Mutiny is an anarchist group consisting of a number of layers of trust and information management

Or so says police intelligence.

In 2007, tricksy state authorities, given the task of protecting the preciousss APEC summit — one of HoWARd’s last hurrahs — announced that they’d compiled a list of ‘excluded persons’. This list was made possible by the working class NSW Government, which in June 2007 passed a piece of legislation called the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Bill 2007. The following Clauses spelled out the ways and means by which police — to be precise, the Commissioner of Police, Andrew Scipione — could protect the summit from party poopers:

Clause 24 provides that certain persons (excludable persons) may be excluded from APEC security areas. These persons include persons who have failed, without lawful excuse or special justification, to comply with requirements made of the persons under the proposed Act. Another category of excludable persons are persons who are named in an excluded persons list prepared under proposed section 26.

Clause 25 enables a police officer to exclude and remove persons from a restricted area if they fail to comply with a request made of them under the proposed Act to identify themselves. It also enables persons to be excluded from such an area if they possess or have in their control prohibited items without special justification or if they are in the area without special justification…

Clause 26 enables the Commissioner of Police to prepare one or more lists of persons that the Commissioner is satisfied are persons who would pose serious threats to the safety of persons or property (or both) in an APEC security area during the APEC period.

At the time, authorities announced that the list consisted of 29 POIs (‘persons of interest’ in the nomenclature of the state), although — to the best of my knowledge — only a handful were publicly identified, and then only as a result of their attempts to bring the issue before the courts. Thus in September 2007, the violent football hooligans Dan Jones, Paddy Gibson, Dan Robbins and Tim Davis-Frank attempted to have this provision of the Act ruled unconstitutional. Thankfully for democracy, Michael Adams, Margaret Beazley and David Ipp ruled otherwise.

In any case, while tricksy police claimed that 29 persons were on the Commissioner’s Top Secret list (28 of whom were there because they had been charged with offences deriving from the G20 protest in Melbourne in 2006), in actuality the list comprised 61 party people in the place to be:

Beware of the police bearing lists
Edmund Tadros
The Sydney Morning Herald
September 6, 2008

University activists and Greenpeace members made up a third of a secret list of 61 people NSW Police considered so dangerous they were banned from public areas near last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.

In the months before the event, the NSW Government passed special legislation so police could create a list of “excludable persons”, who were told they were on the list and would be immediately arrested if they entered Martin Place and other public areas around the Opera House during APEC Leaders’ Week.

At the time the newly appointed Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, refused to release the names on the list, or the reasons why they were on it. He said: “Our intelligence tells us there is an intent to act violently.” The Assistant Commissioner, Dave Owens, said those on the list “present a threat to the safety and security of APEC”.

The Herald has obtained the excludable persons list using freedom-of-information laws. While the names have been removed, the reasons for inclusion on the list, including membership of various “issue-motivated groups” [!], have been disclosed…

The 61 all presumably received a letter a little like this:

And while the names have been removed, “activists” and trainee spooks around Australia are being invited to participate in another fun game of ‘Identify the Excluded Person of Interest’. Mick Armstrong of Some Alternative is convinced troublemakers all derive from The Land of the Long White Cloud and Fush and Chups.

    What do you think? Try your luck! APEC excluded list (PDF). First neatest, correctest entry to identify the largest number of ultra-violent wreckers what should be locked up in jail receives a complimentary blogpost on slackbastard.

Now the news:

Feral, low-life people (from New Zealand) that want society to be in a state of near anarchy for their own perverse pleasure 1 | Arms industry 0

SA defence expo cancelled over violence fears from radical groups
Nigel Hunt
Sunday Mail
September 7, 2008

A MAJOR defence expo due to start in Adelaide on Remembrance Day has been cancelled amid fears of violence by radical protest groups.

Organisers of the Asia-Pacific Defence and Security Exhibition made the decision after talks with the State Government and police over planned protest action against the three-day event.

In recent weeks, police have given the Government several confidential briefings on the scale of the planned protests – including the participation of an ultra-radical group responsible for violence at last year’s APEC meeting in Sydney – and the cost of the huge police operation to counter them.

Acting Premier Kevin Foley said yesterday the Government had full confidence in police to manage “these feral anarchists that would be descending on Adelaide” if the event, at the Convention Centre, had proceeded.

“However, the organisers had to take into account a number of factors, ranging from security issues as well as the level of support from the Defence Department,” he said, also labelling the protesters “feral low-lifes”.

“We had to weigh up a number of factors and the decision was taken that the cost of security, the possible threats of violence, were risks that on balance the organisers of the event and the Government agreed were not worth proceeding with.”

Mr Foley said the decision should not be seen as a “victory” for the protest groups because the contacts with manufacturers made so far would be followed up.

The APDSE – an armaments trade fair – was to be held from November 11-13. The fair was part of a concerted push by the State Government to sell South Australia to the rest of the world as a defence state.

The executive director of APDS Exhibition Ltd, Phil Guy, yesterday confirmed the discussions with the Government and police leading up to the decision.

“The major issues discussed revolve around public safety, security risk levels and increased costs, plus the Commonwealth’s failure to support the event,” Mr Guy said.

“Earlier this week, SAPOL advised the Government and APDS about issues of public order and security leading up to and during the event.

“Police advise that the APDS exhibition is being targeted by highly organised and violent protesters with a history of focusing on similar defence and security events.”

Sources said the State Government was alerted to the scale of the protests several weeks ago.

Police then briefed the Government’s Emergency Management Committee on August 28. It is understood further meetings were held between the Premier’s office and senior police this week which resulted in the discussions with organisers.

Mr Foley was critical of the protest groups, particularly those who resorted to violence.

“These are feral, low-life people that want society to be in a state of near anarchy for their own perverse pleasure,” he said.

“Let’s not mince words here. People who say they are anti-war but resort to violence and destruction to put their case are clearly a bunch of people who are dangerous to society.

“These are just anarchists that enjoy disrupting civil society. They do not have one fig of credibility.”

Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Burns yesterday declined to comment, but police sources said senior officers had detailed to the Government the expected scope of the protests – around 500 protesters – and the “strong” likelihood of violence erupting.

The size and cost of the police operation was also detailed, along with assessments concerning public safety risks and disruption to the city over the period.

SAPOL’s Protective Security Service command had been planning a massive security operation involving almost 500 police to control the protests.

All annual leave for police had been cancelled a month ago for the week of the operation and those involved were having their riot training updated.

It is known police had received accurate intelligence on the protesters who would attend, including members of the ultra-militant protest group Mutiny.

Mutiny, and another group called Arterial Bloc, were behind the violence at last year’s APEC meeting in Sydney [?] and the G20 meeting in Melbourne in 2006.

Many other protest groups have been attempting to rally support for their cause in recent weeks by dropping pamphlets at various events in the city.

Prior to the event being cancelled, peace activist Jacob Grech from OzPeace told the Sunday Mail he anticipated “around 500” protesters at the event.

Mr Grech organised similar protests at Canberra’s AIDEX events in 1989 and 1991. The violence at the 1991 event resulted in a third defence expo planned for 1993 being cancelled.

He said plans were under way for several busloads of protesters to travel from Melbourne and Sydney and many had intended making their own way to Adelaide.

“We have a policy of non-violent direct action,” he said. However, Mr Grech confirmed members of the militant Mutiny group were also planning to attend.

“I have heard some of them will be coming down from Sydney, but again the nature of the protest is going to be non-violent as far as we can determine,” he said.

Remix : Remembrance Day show abandoned, Sunday Herald Sun, Nigel Hunt, September 7, 2008: “FERAL” rioters who wreaked havoc at 2006’s G20 meeting have forced a Remembrance Day event to be cancelled. The three-day defence expo due to start on November 11 has been scrapped amid fears of violence by “low-life anarchists”.

Incidentally, Mutiny zine editors wish the world to be informed that the deadline for the next feral issue is:

    Friday, September 12.

    Send us:

    * 350 words of news, actions, resistances, occupations, updates on political situations, etc
    * 1500 words worth of articles
    * 350 words worth of reviews on recordings / screenings / gigs / films / books / ‘graphic novels’ / etc

    Please send your submissions ASAP to mutineers[at]graffiti[dot]net

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2024 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.
This entry was posted in Anarchism, State / Politics, War on Terror. Bookmark the permalink.

11 Responses to Mutiny is an anarchist group consisting of a number of layers of trust and information management

  1. Gary Rumor says:

    One for the anarchists in Australia. I read today that the South Australians have cancelled their defence contractors marathon meeting due to fear of the “feral anarchists”. That person must have been watching old Road Warrior movies when they said that. Anyway one for the good guys. Meanwhile here in the heart of the beast we are being beaten and tortured by the police here in the USA. Check out this video:

    elliot hughes tortured in ramsey county jail, bag placed over head and beaten for an hour:

    http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/51910-developing-detainee-alleges-torture-in-ramsey-county-jail

    And check out my blog, leave a comment.

  2. Kadet says:

    Hey @ndy, photos of the “special interest persons” were published in a Sydney tabloid just before APEC with names to match. Can’t exactly remember which paper it was. I’ll get on it!
    -Love and Solidarity

  3. Asher says:

    Kadet – I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of the G20 “persons of interest”, not the APEC excluded list.

  4. Dr. Cam says:

    The identities of restricted people were published in the Daily Tele (and poss.) in the SMH in the lead up to APEC. I don’t recall if photos were also published, but it’s quite probable. I like the bloke on Page 30. I think he would be fun at parties.

  5. Kadet says:

    yep. here’s what Green Left had to say:

    The September 1 Daily Telegraph published the names and photographs of all but two of the 29 people who have been put on the NSW police commissioner’s list of people to be excluded from much of the Sydney CBD during the APEC summit, and who will even be banned from flying into or out of Sydney airport.

    Being put on the list is a decision of the police commissioner. There is no requirement for anyone to have any convictions to be put on the list, and there is no appeal mechanism provided under the APEC security legislation.

    The source of the “excluded persons” list, while not named in the Daily Telegraph article, is evidently from inside the NSW Police. This raises the obvious question of the named persons’ privacy, possible harm to future job prospects, the harm to personal reputation which comes from being publicly declared a threat to APEC security and the role of the police in demonising left-wing activists.

    Prior to the Telegraph article, NSW police had told lawyers and human rights activists that names of “excluded persons” would not be made public.

    Dale Mills, Murdoch press violates ‘excluded persons’ privacy, Green Left Weekly, #723, 5 September 2007.

  6. princess mob says:

    To clear up any confusion: Only the people who were on the ‘excluded list’ cos of g20 cases – & the one Sydney anti-war activist who was put on the list at the same time – had their photos in the paper then. The next round of Excluded – Greenpeace, the enviro crew who did the coal loader lock-on, & Mutiny, weren’t put on the list till a little bit later, & the cops didn’t release their names or photos to the media.

    In other news, Mutiny zine has a new web home on the Jura Books site! The old site stopped working, though maybe that was just cos most people didn’t have enough of a security clearance to access it…

  7. Lumpen says:

    Kinda reminds me of the Spin the Bottle Bloc debacle with the then-Police Minister Micheal Costa. Remember he could decode all of the secret messages and came to the conclusion that it was all a ruse to hide our violent acts?

  8. @ndy says:

    “Spin the bottle! Spin the bottle?!? You blokes can get fucked! Dickheads!”

  9. Ultimate Hater says:

    Everyone please be careful I have received word that the “professional protesters” are lurking.

  10. Thomas says:

    Don’t forget the dirty commies! Bastards!

  11. Pingback: The farce of the APEC excludable person’s list « edmundtadros

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