Queensland is ushering in a new suite of laws banning the use and possession of “sinister” devices used to lock protesters together, just a couple of weeks after enormous climate change demonstrations caused traffic havoc in Brisbane.
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Speaking before parliament today, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced her cabinet had rubber-stamped new laws which make the devices illegal, along with provisions for police to search anyone they reasonably believe to be in possession of such devices.
She claimed some of those devices had effectively been booby-trapped with glass shards and butane gas canisters “so that anyone trying to cut a protester free will be injured, or worse.”
Palaszczuk made statements suggesting the use of such devices could hinder emergency services.
Everyone has a right to peaceful protest.
They don’t have a right to put others in danger.
This is why we’re acting against extreme forms causing harm. #qldpol pic.twitter.com/uaZc4POVBi
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) August 20, 2019
PEDESTRIAN.TV has contacted Queensland Police Service for comment on where and when such devices have been used.
When questioned by PEDESTRIAN.TV about the laws, a Queensland Ambulance Service spokesperson said it “supports any initiative that ensures the safety of people in the community.”
Earlier this month, Extinction Rebellion protesters took to Brisbane streets to advocate for urgent government action on climate change. More than 70 people were charged after those demonstrations.
In July, several protesters were arrested and subsequently released without charge after they glued themselves to Russell Street in the city’s CBD, which halted traffic in the Queensland capital.
The new laws come at a particularly tense time for Queensland.
The state has greenlit the construction of the endlessly controversial Adani Carmichael coal mine, which detractors say will irrevocably damage its immediate environment, have negative ramifications on the Great Barrier Reef, and contribute to the continual use of climate-damaging fossil fuel sources.
In a recent Facebook post referencing yesterday’s protest on William Jolly Bridge, a Extinction Rebellion SEQ spokesperson said “Civil disobedience is necessary and disruptions to business as usual will continue until we see real action on the ecological crisis.”
It now appears the government is bolstering its powers to deter such protests.
