The Dead Roo

The usual suspects gathered at the State Library, and then dutifully trudged to the state library. When I left the rally at about 1:30 (after it had reached the police barricade before the Grant Hyatt) the crowd was already starting to disperse.

Issues

At all protests an amazing hodge podge of issues float around for the political consumer to consider, but there is usually some unifying theme or purpose to the rally. That was missing at this rally, and as a result no one really got fired up about anything.

Before the rally left the State Library speakers spoke about Aboriginal issues (Robbie Thorpe), the War in Iraq, David Hicks, Climate Change, and the supposed serving of a “citizens arrest warrant” on Paul Wolfowitz (a Socialist Alliance stunt).

More photos and analysis over the fold.

Crowd Size

I’d estimate between 1500 and 2000 people marched, with probably 1000 still hanging around when I left to write this report. Obviously this is just an estimate.

Police Presence

Police line up before the rally begins, this show of force occurred on the street below the gathering at the State library, where everyone involved in the rally could get a good look.

At the same time as the “show of force” above, police moved discreetly around the crowd, handed out leaflets and had a chat with demonstrators, they were civil and even smiled, though their body language betrayed their discomfort.

It appears that Victoria have learnt something about managing crowds in large left wing protests since the last time I went to a large protest gathering.

Before the rally began the police made an effort to mingle with the crowd in groups on one and two, talking to the demonstrators. They also handed out leaflets explaining the police position “We respect your right to protest but…”.

During the rally itself they stayed back. At the police barricade they stood in a calm and seemingly inoffensive line, not wearing riot gear, but twenty metres behind them was a line of fifty mounted police in riot gear. The message was clear.

They also didn’t make the mistake of trying to arrest people engaging in minor graffiti, a mistake that has led to violence in the past.

Police did however have video camera squads, an action that proved provocative when they tried to film an anarchist group at close range. The anarchist group swore and took some happy snaps of their own but didn’t confront.

An anarchist at the G20 rally, the anarchist group this person participated in wore this concealing uniform to prevent their identification.

The Reds

The Socialist Alternative red block at the rallies end point

Naturally every socialist group under the sun had a presence. Naturally they all pretended to co-operate and then slagged off at each other in private.

The rally itself was dominated by socialists, because as always, they were the only ones who had bothered to bring megaphones.

A ute, from which we heard such inspiring slogans as “Hey hey, ho ho, the G20 has got to go” and “we don’t want your racist war”. I’ve seen crowds get more involved with left wing chants in rural Victoria…

I met members from Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative, The Socialist Party (a new mob, who are running for election in Richmond), the International Socialist Organization, and the Spartacist League (who were carrying banners calling for the defense of Nth Korea…). All of them told me I was a fool for being a member of the Greens.

There was no Green party presence.

Violence

Not even the anarchists I met were in the mood for a fight. One guy did come wear a motorbike helmet, but it was part of his “Ancient Greeks for Democracy” costume. I didn’t see a single instance of violence, and the crowd was in a damp mood when I left.

Unless the police tried to break them up after I left, you should be very skeptical if you see reports of violence on tonight’s television news.

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