The last few months you may have noticed a rise the number of protests, particularly those referred to as “Occupy Protests.” Occupy, also a world-wide movement which is primarily directed at economic and social inequality.
Just over a month ago on October 21, the Occupy movement came to Australia where approximately 150 protesters defied police orders demonstrating their movement nation-wide. There have been protests held continually ever since.
The movement has spread right across the nation. A mission statement that’s is “unofficially” followed by Occupy Melbourne and protests world-wide speaks of a more “equitable society”.
“This occupation is a proclamation of solidarity with the millions of people occupying cities around the world right now. They and we seek economic, political and social change that will lead to a more just and equitable society. We are the 99 per cent,” the statement said.
While protesting in Australia is a human right, allowable by the government the laws relating to protests are often not understood by law enforcement officers.
“Most protest groups contact the police in order to ‘ask permission’ to protest in relation to the public areas in which rallies will be held,” said a statement in the Activist Rights Manual.
“The police often ‘refuse’ such permission or impose conditions which the protest organisers find unacceptable.”
With the movement spreading world-wide Occupy protests may become apart of everyday news for quite sometime like the story below where a woman was stripped in public by police.
The video above features an Occupy Melbourne Protester who was forcibly stripped of her protest costume and left on the ground in her underwear by police in a public park.
