Postponed from 8th to 15th. Read the reasons for the change here.
On Saturday 15 August, we're going to walk onto the Story Bridge, sit down in the middle of the road and refuse to move until our reasonable demand is met:
FREE MOVEMENT
Let the KP120 outside the compound for free movement at their discretion—to exercise, walk and connect with the community. They should be able to move freely outside the complex.
When: Saturday 15th August from 12:00 noon - 3:00pm AEST Where: Raymond Park, Baines Street, Kangaroo Point QLD 4169, Australia
WHY A MASS SIT-IN? 120 people. 7 years. 5 prime ministers. We tried petitions, we tried letters, we tried marches—it didn't work. It’s time to engage in mass civil disobedience.
Civil disobedience is an effective means of changing laws—this means deliberately disobeying laws to highlight and prevent further injustice. It’s been used for centuries to create change quickly by shutting down business as usual and interrupting the status quo, which too easily turns a blind eye to human rights violations.
By polarising the community and politicians, we force the people in power to respond and make a choice. Do they tell the police to try and move in and arrest hundreds or thousands of peaceful people, or do they agree to let our friends in KP out for a walk?
When we walk on to that bridge, police will likely try and stop us, tell us to move, threaten to arrest us. But we will do it anyway—we will make the voices of our friends in detention heard. If every single one of you reading this, walks onto that bridge with us, the police won’t be able to move us all on. If we have too many people for the police to stop us, we win. And if we don’t win this time, we keep trying. Because a few months ago, a handful of men started hanging a few banners made of garbage bags from their balconies in a simple plea for freedom.
WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN FOR ME? This action carries a risk of arrest for anyone prepared to occupy the Story Bridge. We use a traffic light system to describe roles in actions like this: red (high risk of arrest), orange (unlikely to be arrested, but there’s a risk), and green (no reasonable chance of arrest). Green: March with us but follow police directions if any are given. Orange: March with us onto the bridge and sit down, defy general police announcements to move, but follow specific police directions (especially a move on order given directly to you). Red: March onto the bridge, sit down, and refuse any police order to move.
Note: If there are enough people, there might be no arrests at all, you might be given on-the-spot $53 fines, or you might be taken to the watch house and fined.
Other roles
If you want to come and participate but are unable or unwilling to defy the law, please know there are a host of other roles to be done (for example, legal observing to keep people safe, or supporting everyone from a legal position on the footpath). If that’s you, please keep reading—it’s worth coming to our trainings and knowing the information below.
We want to keep each other safe so we can keep fighting for freedom, so it’s important to know your rights and what taking this important action means for you.
Know your rights Whether or not you plan to risk arrest, police will be at the protest and may speak to you. Visit Action Ready (legal resources for activists, by activists and lawyers) to read about non-violent direct action, your rights at protests and in speaking to police, and what the process of arrest is like.
Workshops and training Non violent direct action (NVDA) training and legal briefings will be running up until the action.
See the RS Meanjin Facebook events page for training Information.
On the day
Follow the directions of police liaisons and organisers announcements. They will do their best to keep you informed. Don’t talk to the police if you can avoid it—direct their questions to the police liaison. If the police give you a direction, make your own decision about what feels right for you. Remember to check with them whether you are legally required to do what they are asking if you’re not sure.
OUR DEMANDS We have three demands that must be met before our 24/7 community blockade ends:
1. STOP THE TRANSFERS No more forced transfers to high-security facilities like BITA. Reverse the forced transfers and return any people who were forced to leave Kangaroo Point if they want to come back.
2. FREE MOVEMENT Let the men outside to exercise, walk and connect with the community.
3. OUT BY CHRISTMAS Release the KP120 into the community by Christmas.
More info: Our Demands
These local demands were born out of our national demands—the DNA of Refugee Solidarity Meanjin.
1. FREE THE REFUGEES 2. LET THEM STAY 3. END MANDATORY DETENTION
We are part of a community-based mass movement to free these people.
We're radical. We're non-violent. We're going to do what it takes to #FreeTheKP120.
We acknowledge that we'll be protesting on the stolen lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal peoples, whose sovereignty over these lands was never ceded.
Hosted by Refugee Solidarity Brisbane / Meanjin
