Queensland once again feels like a police state. Laws outlawing pro-Palestine slogans introduced by Liberal National Party Premier David Crisafulli are being aggressively enforced by the Queensland police. Just 20 minutes after the laws came into effect on 11 March, dozens of riot cops massed outside state parliament, waiting to arrest activists. Students for Palestine member Liam Parry was the first to go after a speech explaining why the banned pro-Palestine slogan is an important call for equality. Eighteen-year-old Bonnie Carter was arrested 30 minutes later for wearing a T-shirt bearing the banned slogan.
Since then, four more people have been arrested and two have been charged for the crime of calling for Palestinian liberation. This includes 70-year-old Jim Dowling, who was charged for holding a sign at a protest outside Boeing’s Brisbane headquarters. Another person was arrested following a police raid of a Catholic homelessness charity, Dorothy Day House.
Well-known street artists James Hillier, better known as Nordacious, and Scott Marsh have also been threatened by the police for featuring the banned slogan in their artworks. Nordacious has reported that he was told to remove the artworks from his Instagram page or potentially face charges under the act.
At two subsequent rallies, police have falsely claimed that similar expressions also fall foul of the laws, despite that provision being explicitly removed from the final draft. Action Ready Queensland reported that police threatened to arrest a protester outside Parry’s court appearance for holding a sign that said “from the sea to the river”, and another for holding a sign that said “from the fresh to the salty” at the annual Palm Sunday rally. Neither of these slogans are restricted in the new legislation.
This is intended by the police and government to create an atmosphere of intimidation and fear. It is not about “community safety” or protecting people from hate or antisemitism. None of the protesters who have been arrested or charged were a danger to the community, and there’s nothing hateful or antisemitic about standing up against genocide or calling for Palestinian liberation. Queenslanders have fought and defeated repressive anti-protest laws like these before. It’s time to do it again.
