NSW Police Attempt To Block Mardi Gras Pride Protest
Despite NSW seeing zero COVID-19 transmissions for over a month, NSW police have cited coronavirus concerns in an attempt to shut down a planned Pride protest set to go ahead on the day of Mardi Gras.
The protest, planned to go ahead at Taylor Square at 2pm on the 6th of March, is being organised by activist group Pride in Protest. Amongst the issues the group hopes to draw attention to are a One Nation education bill which would outlaw mention of gender diversity in schools, treatment of LGBTQI+ refugees in Australian detention and Indigenous deaths in custody.
Pride in Protest hope the event will bring Mardi Gras back to its roots as a political movement.
On the almost 1,000 people have said they will attend and a further 3,000 have clicked ‘interested’. Pride in Protest says they expect around 900 people in attendance.
Despite the number of protesters being only around one third of the 3,000 person cap on protests in NSW, the police are formally opposing the event.
Pride in Protest says since the Mardi Gras parade will go ahead at the Sydney Cricket Ground with over 10,000 spectators attending, it is an inconsistent application of the public health orders if they shut down the protest.
鈥淲e encourage the NSW Police to practice consistency in policing the public in the context of COVID-19,鈥�
鈥淚f non-political public gatherings are allowed to proceed uninterrupted, then so should protests.鈥�
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, member for Newtown, Jenny Leong, said the solution to the conflict is not protesters bowing to the threats, but police backing down and working together with the protest organisers as they have in the past.
On Invasion Day, the police allowed the 鈥渦napproved鈥� mass gathering to go ahead as long as it was broken up into smaller socially-distanced groups of 500 people, in line with public health orders.
鈥淲hat we need to recognise is the NSW police here do not run this state,鈥� said Ms. Leong.
鈥淚t is absolutely essential that we can stand up for trans rights, it is absolutely essential we stand up for Black Lives Matter, it is absolutely essential that we can exercise our right to protest.
When asked whether organisers would consider arranging a smaller 500-person event, Ms. Leong said with protests it is unpredictable how many people will turn up on the day.
鈥淧eople will remember the day when we thought we were going to have a rally of about 2,000 people turn up for the Marriage Equality debate, but on the day 50,000 people turned up,鈥� she said.
Pride in protest say they have planned the event based on the currently available public health advice, and will have strict COVID-19 safe measures in place on the day such as enforced social distancing and mask wearing.
鈥淗omophobia, transphobia, and racism are social diseases that do not wait, and neither can we,鈥� organisers said.
Pride in Protest have submitted their intention to march and COVID-19 safe plan to the relevant authorities.
With protesters saying they will show up regardless of whether the event is allowed, organisers say police refusing to cooperate and trying to shut down the event will just make it more unsafe for all involved. Ms. Leong thinks the choice for police should be simple if they want to maintain order on the day.
鈥淚 say to the NSW police, do not make this harder than what it is,鈥� she said.
Police and Pride in Protest will appear before court, possibly later today, to make their cases.
