“This is not a police state—we have the right to demonstrate!” Around 60 Palestine solidarity activists, community members and journalists chanted at the entrance to the Brisbane Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning.
They were there to support Liam Parry, the first person to be charged with “reciting a prohibited expression” under the Queensland Liberal government’s new “hate speech” laws. Liam is facing up to two years’ jail for saying “from the river to the sea” at a Students for Palestine rally last month.
The police’s conduct at the community gathering was telling. Before the speeches, officers told the rally organiser that they had “the resources to do what happened to Liam to other people” in the crowd.
They encircled a 70-year-old man holding a sign that read “From the Sea to the River”, threatening him with arrest unless he put it away. Activists have warned for months that the new laws are about intimidating and silencing the Palestine solidarity movement. The eagerness of the police to enforce the laws, even in dubious circumstances, proves their point.
The crowd was undeterred. The chants of solidarity rang out across Roma Street. Addressing the crowd and a throng of cameras after his hearing, Parry said: “It’s an important moment in Queensland right now. The government is trying to criminalise pro-Palestine advocacy. We can’t accept that”.
The next opportunity to protest for Palestine and against the new laws will be during Justice for Palestine Magandjin’s weekend of action on 18-19 April.
Ella Gutteridge is the convenor of Students for Palestine in Queensland.
