Liberal Councillor and sister of Opposition leader Christine Forster was elected eight months ago. She has never raised the issue of the Occupy Sydney Occupation in that time.
On May 13th 2013 as the beginning of a proactive campaign to end homelessness and deliver housing affordability Occupy Sydney launched The Homeless Hungry & Cold Resource Centre serving Hot Food and Coffee 24 Hours 7 Days a week.
On June 13th Councillor Forsters article in The local Murdoch Press rag alerted us to the fact that she had tabled a motion in council calling for Occupy Sydney to be evicted using Police Force if necessary.
On 24 June Council on the flawed information given by Councillor Forster and over the objections of Greens Councillor Irene Doutney and Labors sole representative Linda Scott, the Council passed the resolution with a conscience appeasing fence sitting resolution to evict Occupy Sydney.
Occupy Sydney's preliminary legal advice is that Council have not issued proper notice. As the matter is civil the Council require Court orders to effect their process. Police have no power to intervene.
Instead of which The Council have selected to act illegally using armed police as thug stormtroopers to threaten intimidate and nullify Occupiers ability to protect Occupy Resources.
The Occupy Sydney Constitutional Challenge recently lost by Occupy Sydney is being appealed.This case tested the heirarchical priority of protest vs regulations not the validity of the regulations themselves.
The Supreme Court case ordered appealed by the NSW Premier , did test validity to some extent and this case was won by Occupy. The DPP has filed notice to appeal but not filed an appeal as yet.
We believe that the real reason Council has passed this eviction resolution is to deny Homeless people access to appropriate resources to provide for basic human need. Warmth Food and Shelter. Councils Homelessness unit enjoys a healthy relationship with some of the most toxic monetisers of marginalised people in Australia including Mission Australia operators of the "jail you pay for "Common Ground" so glowingly lauded by another monetiser, Therese Rein.The Homelessness Unit cooperated locally in a callous Federal Government initiative to dump Mental Health Health System Clients onto the Streets and prioritise their access to "homeless housing". The Councils delivery agency Neami had 25 years of Mental Health case maintenance expertise but zero experience with homeless. Many of the homes the public is being told are housing Homeless people are housing these people wilfully made homeless by Federal and State Governments deliberate policy.
Council has given Occupy Sydney no timeline to leave.
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| A mobile kitchen was brought in |
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| 1st Occupy rebuild |
Yet in a crass display of arrogance and disdain for legal process or Civil Liberties Council arrived unannounced on July 3rd and commenced stealing Occupy Sydney resources aided and abetted by armed State Police.
Occupiers scrambled to restore services to our homeless community. A mobile kitchen was brought in before the site was restored.
On 5th June City of Sydney who had approved a film crew shooting ABC TVs Rake program to shoot in the area again raided Occupy Sydney assisted by armed and actively engaged NSW Police whose well known thuggery was brutally to Occupy supporting wheelchair using aboriginal elder Colleen Fuller who needed hospital treatment.
Police physically wrested a barbecue another occupier was attempting to place in her vehicle from her posession causing injuries and lacerations which did not require treatment.
Occupy Sydney absolutely deplore Council initiated police thuggery towards Colleen and other Occupiers. The use of the police to preemptively usurp the rights of peaceful protesters and proactivists without prior reference to Courts amounts to arbitrary and selective application of force to effect government desires whether legal or not.
The choice of police to act as they did in the second raid amounts to another instance of arbitrarily applied state terrorism and should be absolutely rejected.
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I think this Forster woman has only taken this action to make Abbott and the Librals look good. I consider it strange that Occupy Sydney has been on the site at Martin place for almost 21 months and no real attemot has been made to remove them. Occupy has been feeding the Homeless for a long time but when they started feeding the Homeless 24/7 is when the public started to support Occupy Sydney even more. The Council and the Liberals didnt like it that the public was seeing that there were many more Homeless than was thought. They dont like the fact that Occupy Sydney are feedng clothng and counciling the homeless whith out any financial assistance from Government. Occupy has not only helped the Homless but have helped the down troden and the abused by Government departments. I thank Occupy Sydney for helping me with my fight with DoCs and helpping me to stand strong as a proud Yuin woman. I will be back to help again as soon as i heal from the beating I received from Police and City of Sydney's Thugs.
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