War on Clothing #occupymelb #omel

Victoria Police and Melbourne City Council workers narrowly averted a terrorist attack yesterday morning when they were forced to publicly strip a young woman @ OccupyMelb of her clothing, thereby denying another angry violent liar her ”little self-indulgent moment in the sunshine”. According to one professional protester armed with a camera:

The individual in question was part of the Occupy Melbourne protest and was dressed in a protest costume made from a converted tent. The significance of the costume was to [highlight] restrictions placed on protesters staging a 24/7 protest in Flagstaff Gardens.

The protester was surrounded by at least 4 Melbourne City Council officers and 8 Victoria Police officers.

Her movement was restricted by the formation of officers surrounding her and she was subsequently restrained as officers proceeded with aggressively removing her costume.

At each stage she declared that she did not consent or feel comfortable with the actions of the council and police officers, stating that this was a sexual assault. “This is not consensual.”

Her requests and declarations were ignored as officers continued to rip and [jostle] her costume and person. A knife was requested and used by MCC officers as the protest costume was cut from her body. The remaining severed costume was violently torn from her while the protester herself was [discarded], [left] semi-naked and crying on the ground as Victoria Police and MCC officers walked away with the costume.

No effort was made to assess her health or [well-being] after the incident.

I says: if she didn’t want to be stripped in public of her clothing by a large group of armed men and women, she should have stayed at home.

Amirite?

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.
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8 Responses to War on Clothing #occupymelb #omel

  1. Derek says:

    See, I know how we sort this shit out. Well, when dudes are stealing or doing graffiti or what-have-you and see police roll up, they scatter.

    Same principle must apply here.

    We hold up mirrors next time the police are breaking the law, they notice that there’s cops nearby and they bolt. Fool-proof.

  2. ac says:

    I’m assuming, then, that her consent was given to having the video of the stripping uploaded to the internet?

  3. Aussie says:

    Was there any follow up from authorities on this? Any explanation? Investigations? Or do I mean pretend investigations? Is that legal? I dunno what I think any more. Trying to understand people and things that happen is like trying to understand The Bible. One way or another, it’s fair to say the world has gone mad. Think I might go with Einstein on this one: “A smart person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.”

  4. @ndy says:

    ‘Tent woman’ seeks intervention order against police
    Steve Butcher
    The Age
    December 7, 2011

    Melbourne cops made to look foolish by protesters in tent costumes get vindictive revenge by stripping protester to underwear in park
    Cory Doctorow
    boing boing
    December 6, 2011

    Otherwise…

    The ESD has been ordered to conduct a whitewash.

    I don’t think the police action is at all difficult to understand: they and council workers have been ordered to destroy OM. If that means stripping a young woman of her clothing, Amen.

    Besides, she was given orders.

    Mr Lay says police protected council officers when they moved in to remove the tents after numerous warnings.

    And he says they offered to give the woman clothing before the tent was cut away.

    “We did everything possibly we could to make sure this woman’s dignity was maintained,” he said.

    “We did what we thought was right.”

    Lay defends officers over Occupy protest
    ABC
    December 7, 2011

  5. Aussie says:

    It seems the police may have acted emotionally, and forgot why they were doing it, maybe. Common sense would tell a police officer to arrest someone if they were breaking the law given the situation, so maybe they weren’t acting emotionally, were they just being smart arses? I know you will tell me they were probably just doing what they are told, but in my world people who do that are pathetic and weak, little puppets. You don’t get Brownie points from me because you can blame someone else for your actions.

    The girl stirred the pot, so she was looking for a reaction. She got one, so what’s her problem?

    At the end of the day, the system the police officers abide by is on her side. Interesting to see how well that system works, with the spotlight on it. Probably not a big spotlight, but a spotlight.

  6. @ndy says:

    Police have emotions yes, but their actions on this occasion were quite obviously planned and pre-meditated: they certainly do not appear to be acting in an angry or upset or ‘irrational’ fashion at all. And yes, the line taken by police command is fully supportive of their stripping this woman of her clothing: she was asking for it. In any event, whatever the ethico-political dimensions of their behaviour, the legal intricacies are for the courts to decide… apparently she applied to the courts for a restraining order? Further, the real spotlight is public opinion, not legal wrangling over whether-or-not-police-are-legally-entitled-to-strip-a-woman-of-her-clothing-after-informing her-that-wearing-such-apparel-is-in-violation-of-council-ordinances.

  7. Aussie says:

    Yeah fair enough. It is just my opinion, a person would need to know the exact details (The Big Picture) to make an educated guess, bit of a kerfuffle from both sides really, probably a bit of an eye opener in all ways, depends on what people are focusing on I suppose. A restraining order? I’m going back to Einstein!

  8. Pingback: Occupy Melbourne v The Man #omel | slackbastard

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