In preparing for the Picket on Sunday I have contacted the following authorities to confirm the legality of the protest and any local regulations that need to be adheard to.

I have contacted the Victoria Police station closest to the Melbourne Org to notify them of the picket on Sunday. I made it clear that I was not the organiser and that as far as I knew, there was no individual or organisation 'running' the protest and that I did not know how many protestors might attend (I said it could be 1 or 100 as I could only speak for myself). It was explained that this was a protest of individuals who were each responsible for their own actions.

They had no issue provided there was no illegal activity or violence. They did ask me to check with the Local Council with regard to any need for permits etc...

I contacted Melbourne City Council and they advised that due to the nature of the proposed protest, no permit was required and that I was free to attend as an individual as long as I was not engaged in illegal activities or violent. I promised that this would be the case for me.

So for all those going to the Melbourne Picket, I will be at Flinders Street at 13:30 and then moving up to the Russel Street org for an afternoon of fun and fliers.

http://phobicmedia.com/

Hi all,

OMFG

I was at the Melbourne picket (and met another Clambaker who will remain nameless as they are under the cloud of a gag agreement and understandabily wanted to remain a small part of a big crowd. ).

It was a FANTASTIC Now the long version...

Everyone had a great attitude and really wanted to do the right thing at the protest. I had a couple of spare signs for those who only brought the 'pen on the cardboard' signs, but who could have guessed the shear number of people

We started at Flinders Street Station and filled the large area out the front with picketers. I thought I was getting there early at 13:20, however, the main body of people were already there and handing out HEAPS of fliers to the hugh crowd that flows in and out of this Station. (For those that don't know Melbourne - Flinders Street Station is THE MAIN point of entry into the main city precinct with Federation Square, the Yarra and Swanston St Mall all at the door step. It's like Grand Central Station for those from the USA.)

Add to this the fact that it was a beutiful sunny day of 25'C (the poor anonymi in black were feeling it), and we also had the Chinese New Year Festival on the river and a hugh crowd for a Sunday ALL getting an eyeful of the signs and fliers galore.

We started the short walk up to the Melbourne Org at about 13:55 and as it was only a block away, we decended on them at 14:00 as planned. There must have been 200+ picketing the org. WOW.

The police were there, very friendly, and all of their instructions were followed. There were a few Clams at the station (one is on my video) and a couple at the org hiding inside and taking pictures from windows, the roof, through blinds, etc... He nearly fell out of the window!

If I could give one piece of advice it would be to not wear leather jackets with "Napam Death" written on the back. This was very 'Heavy Metal', however, this was what one of the Clams with the camera focused on for a while.

The front of the org was filled with people and the sound of horns from passing motorists for the next 2 hours and it was then that I had to go for family reasons, however, there was still a large group when I left and I gave my sign to a masked anon for him to continue.

In the mean time, here are some photo's that I took: Click on the picture:



I will be editing my video into something watchable for upload to YouTube when I figure out how to do it.

Edit 12/2/08 - Ok video is up here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TMacinAus