On the 8th November five occupy Sydney protestors were arrested. The arrests came after the riot police usinig police dogs and chainsaws forced their way into an unoccupied Sydney building Occupy Sydney had began to squat that day as a protest against unaffordable housing in Australia. A banner had been hung from the building declaring "Housing Crisis solved". The arrests continue the brutal repression by the Sydney authoriites by any manifestation of peaceful protest by Occupy Sydney who have already been evicted forcefully twice from public parks in recent weeks.
Related: Occupy Sydney Website Report -- Behind the Barricades: the eviction of 165 Clarence St
Minutes ago approximately 30 riot police began to surround an occupied building in Sydney, Australia’s Central Business District.
There are 120,000 unoccupied residential buildings in Sydney yet rental and purchase prices are inaccessible for most.
Police Rescue officers have swarmed the back of the building with chainsaws and canines, in an to attempt to break through the inside barricades.
A large number of human rights supporters from the Occupy Sydney movement lined one side of the street, Riot Police lined the other.
Demonstrators were chanting, “This is not a police state! We have the right to demonstrate. The whole world is watching!”
The question remains for Sydney residents, are the police in place to protect their interests or the interests of an elite minority?
After the occupiers of the building were forcefully removed, police began to kettle peaceful Occupy supporters, members of the media and public indiscriminately.
“Brutal force was used instantaneously and without specific direction. I was standing inside a doorway and without warning, riot police violently pushed all of us down the street mechanically. Frankly, it was frightening,” said Larissa Payne, Occupy Sydney participant.
Occupy Sydney continues their call for a reassessment of the current state of Australian democracy.
