Liberty Victoria on Protest Rights

The freedom to protest is fundamental to democracy. Protesters have the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights, and are protected by the implied freedom of political communication under our Constitution. 

Liberty Victoria calls on the State Government and Victoria Police to ensure that Victorians are able to protest freely.

We have seen shocking scenes of militarised police clashing with protesters in central Melbourne. Liberty Victoria denounces any and all violence used at the protest.

Liberty Victoria is concerned by the use of what appears to be heavy-handed police tactics against protestors. We have warned about increasing police militarization for several years, including the use of rubber bullets, stun grenades and “kettling” during the COVID-19 protests. We note with deep concern the reports of protestors being inappropriately subject to OC spray and the use of other weapons. It is misleading to describe such weapons as “non lethal” – deploying these weapons is a use of force and can have fatal consequences.

Past experience, including with regard to the policing of protest activity during the pandemic, has demonstrated that when all facts come to light there may well emerge a very different understanding of whether some police members acted appropriately and proportionately.  We must be careful not to rush to judgment.

In such circumstances, we are deeply troubled by comments by the Chief Commissioner of Police that people arrested at the protests are “criminals”. People who have been charged by police must be afforded the right to the presumption of innocence. Whether or not they are guilty of an offence is a matter for the independent umpire. Further, this language also demonises protestors.

The description of protestors by the Police Association as “filthy, disgusting animals” is inflammatory, fundamentally dehumanising and may be used to seek to legitimate further violence.

We remain concerned by the increasing restrictions on protest rights in Victoria – both by way of laws that prohibit protest and the gazetting of public spaces enabling searches of citizens without reasonable suspicion, a regime that the Government acknowledges is inconsistent with our human rights.

The UN Human Rights Committee has said that freedom of opinion and freedom of expression are the foundation stone for every free and democratic society. We reaffirm our commitment to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.