New South Wales police have clashed with members of Pride in Protest as they staged a demonstration in Sydney on Friday night.
A group of around 300 LGBTIQ+ community members and allies reportedly gathered at Taylor Square on Oxford Street to protest against police violence, and call for the police to be removed from the Mardi Gras parade.
Several speakers at the event paid tribute to gay couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies who were allegedly murdered last week by police officer Beaumont Lamarre-Condon using his police firearm.
Speakers highlighted ongoing concerns about police violence, continued Indigenous deaths in custody and the police service’s failure to implement any recommendations of the Sackar inquiry into LGBT+ hate crimes or the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Deaths in Custody.
The group supports defunding and de-arming of the police service.
As the protest moved onto Oxford Street organisers allege that officers in attendance used unnecessary and threating physical and verbal intimidation against protesters.
The group marched to the nearby Darlinghurst police station where further speeches ensued. As the group attempted to walk together to the nearest train station after the protest, officers allegedly continued to harass members of the group, including questioning and following protestors into Museum station.
Evan van Zijl, a member of Pride in Protest said the response from police showed why they did not belong in the Mardi Gras parade.
“The police violence, intimidation and threats of tonight are not new to queer and Blak peoples.” van Zijl said in a media statement.
The people who threatened to kill one of us if ‘we tried it’ tonight are the same people now welcomed back to march in our parade. We saw cops hitting and shoving our friends and chosen family. We saw a police officer grab our friend, a trans woman, by her throat. We heard officers threatening to pepper spray a stationary, non-violent crowd. We sustained countless scrapes, cuts and bruises at the hands of these police officers but are called unreasonable for asking that they not be invited to march with us in Mardi Gras tomorrow.” Evan van Zijl said.
Hours earlier a community vigil was held for Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, the two men who were recently the victims of an alleged double-homicide by serving police officer Beaumont Lamarre-Condon.
The event saw hundreds of community members fill Green Park in Darlinghurst.
OIP Staff
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