A month after the Victorian Police attacked a non-violent BDS demonstration at Max Brenner cafe @ QV (arresting 19 people who now face fines up to $30,000) a follow-up rally was held by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) to show support for those arrested and assert our legal right to continue protesting against those who support and fund Israeli apartheid.
Max Brenner is owned by the Israeli Strauss Group and directly funds two IDF brigades, the Golani and Givati brigades, and is therefore responsible in part for Israel's ongoing oppression and denial of human rights to Palestinians both inside Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories, the West Bank and Gaza.
The demonstration started at the Victorian State Library, with around 500 people in attendance, an estimated 4 times as many as the rally a month earlier where the arrests occurred. We marched through the city streets first to the Max Brenner in Melbourne Central, and then onto Max Brenner in the QV courtyard.
Around 100 of "Victoria's finest" were in attendance, including 8 mounted officers as seen in the clip. In this instance the police managed to exercise restraint and no arrests were made.
Apartheid is a war crime and crime against humanity under both the 1976 General Assembly resolution on apartheid and the International Criminal Court's 2002 Rome statute, still, this meant nothing to the Victorian Police when they arrested 19 people during the July 1st rally.
Likewise, international law is apparently irrelevant to Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who chose to visit Max Brenner in mid-July for a photo/media op and to misrepresent BDS in the Australian press as a "boycott of Jewish businesses".
Footage and article by International Women's Peace Service in Palestine (IWPS) volunteer Kim Bullimore at American blog Mondoweiss on the July 1st arrests:
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/australian-police-crack-down-on-bds-protes......
July 29th BDS rally call:
http://boycottisrael19.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/defend-the-right-to-demo...
Kevin Rudd's opportunistic and dishonest media spot at Max Brenner:
Text reposted from dynaco's Youtube upload
More footage of demo
Coverage of rally on U.S. website
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Defenders of the oppressed moaning outside a chocolate shop
Because nothing says defender of the oppressed like moaning outside a chocolate shop.