[NYTr] APEC Security Over the Top: Activists

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

IPS - Sep 6, 2007
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39161

AUSTRALIA:  

APEC Security Over the Top - Activists

By Stephen de Tarczynski

MELBOURNE, Sep 6 (IPS) - Activists and civil libertarians say that
security measures put in place for the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum -- currently being held in Sydney and leading
up to the weekend summit -- are excessive and undermine democratic
freedoms.

''The measures are unprecedented and they directly prohibit expressions
of democratic freedom in the declared area," Stephen Blanks, executive
secretary of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL),
told IPS.

"It gives police the power to do anything they choose within the APEC
declared area," says Blanks.

Authorities have announced certain areas as APEC declared zones as part
of an effort to minimise security threats, including terrorist attacks
and violent protests.

Australia has seen violent clashes between protesters and police in the
past, most recently at the G-20 summit in Melbourne in 2006.

Among the delegates at the APEC forum are the heads-of-state of the 21
members of APEC, including United States President George W. Bush --
who will leave early to attend the 9/11 commemorations and prepare for
the release of a critical progress report on Iraq -- President Hu
Jintao of China, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Under legislation introduced for APEC, the 3,500-strong police force at
the forum have great stop-and-search powers and can move people on
within the APEC zones. The police will be backed-up by 1,500 Australian
defence personnel.

While most pedestrians will be able to enter the declared zones -- some
people have been "blacklisted" as potential trouble-makers and will be
refused entry -- the presumption of bail will be denied to those
arrested.

In addition, 200 weekend prisoners have been told to stay at home in
order to free-up jail space.

Blanks sees this as an ominous sign. "I think it tells protesters that
the police intend to be very heavy handed," he says.

The police will, if need be, use water cannon to disperse crowds while
a five km, concrete and steel security fence now rings major sites such
as Circular Quay, as part of crowd control measures.

Australia's navy will deploy special forces around Sydney Harbour while
overhead surveillance will be taken care of by fighter jets and
helicopters.

Jim Casey, from the New South Wales Fire Brigade Employees’ Union and
spokesman for the Stop Bush Coalition -- a group which is planning what
is expected to be the largest protest during the APEC forum --
describes the security measures as excessive and unnecessary.

"The existing laws allow the police to actually keep control of the
demonstration without needing to go to these constraints," he says.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld an application by the police to
move the route of the Stop Bush Coalition’s protest, scheduled for Sep.
8, away from the declared APEC zone.

The protesters had planned to march along Martin Place, where the U.S.
consulate is located, but the court ruled that the group must follow
another route -- the one suggested by police.

Casey told IPS that the group was committed to a peaceful protest and
that the route proposed by the coalition -- which plans to march
against global warming, in defence of workers’ rights and for Australia
to withdraw its troops from Iraq -- would not have engaged with any of
the APEC delegates. "It doesn’t go near any of the venues they’ll be
staying in," he says.

Casey also argues that to relate the threat of terrorist attack to
peaceful protest goes too far. "For those issues to become loaded with
the question of terror is something which I think is a little bit
beyond the pale.’’

Stephen Blanks agrees. "Expressions of political opinion do not raise,
inherently, public safety issues."

"People can express political opinions in a safe way and people would
like to express political opinions in a safe way inside the declared
area," says the NSWCCL Secretary.

He says that while security measures need to be taken, they should
reflect the rights of the broader community as well.

"There do have to be appropriate measures in place but they should
balance better the rights and freedoms of everybody in the community,"
Blanks told IPS.

Dale Mills, from Human Rights Monitors (HRM) -- a group of lawyers and
law students who will "police the police" by collecting video,
photographic and eyewitness evidence of police behaviour -- says that
"it’s understandable that extra security measures have been put in
place because George W. Bush is visiting."

But Mills argues that the beefed-up security is disproportionate to the
threat. "I think the existing security measures have been over the top.
They effectively ban protest," he says.

"The laws are not just dealing with the potential terrorist threat but
also seem to be aimed at combating all sorts of protest and that’s just
unnecessary," argues Mills.

"Having a protest up Martin Place is not a legitimate security concern,
if by that you mean the possibility of a terrorist attack on a head of
state and so the laws have just gone way over the top," he says.

HRM, which has been active at demonstrations in Australia since 2002,
will have around 30 members operating in pairs during the forum. Mills
says that while 20 monitors will wear identification so that people can
approach them regarding their legal rights, some will be operating
"under cover."

"(They) will just appear like ordinary people taking video evidence,
again of the police and to make sure they don’t use excessive force or
breach any of their guidelines," says Mills.

He argues that it is necessary for the volunteers of HRM to undertake
this work "because there’s insufficient scrutiny of the police
already’’.

Mills says that the task of "policing the police" is vital during
political protests such as the one planned by the Stop Bush Coalition.
"It’s particularly important, generally, to make sure the police are
accountable, but also especially important in relation to political
protests," he says.

Mills argues that allowing space different views is part of a healthy
democratic society.

"When people engage in political protests, very often they’re espousing
views which today are seen as minority views, but tomorrow they become
the conventional wisdom."

(END/2007)