Sydney Gay Mardi Gras Police

[Guest sclivejames]

Not sure here who has or who had attended the Annual Sydney Gay Mardi Gras but held the first Saturday of March every year it is attended by millions of people.

 

Last Saturday night a young 18yo gay man is claiming Police brutality after his video went viral.

 

A  Police Officer was alleged to have used to much force,and has incited the Sydney Gay Community to march in protest this weekend against Police,ironically i notice the police officer is also in a minority group being an Aboriginal.

,unfortanetely the video taken by Jamie's friends didnt show him kick a police officer before it was taken.

 

 

You be the judge        http://www.gay.net/news/2013/03/06/watch-violent-arrest-caught-tape-during-gay-pride-victim-speaks    

[Guest fountainhall]

I've looked at the vdo clips and listened to the interview. I can see there was clearly a degree of confusion and that the police officer might have at first regarded Jamie as being aggressive. If that is the case, then the first time he was thrown/fell to the ground might just be understandable. But the second time he was in handcuffs and I can see absolutely no excuse for the police manhandling the guy. He only weighs around 60kgs or less, whereas the policeman was probably double that!

 

Mind you, Jamie really is pretty cute! If I'd been that officer, I'd have kissed him and told him to get on his way 

 

I noted some time ago that Sydney dropped the "Gay & Lesbian" part of the title this year. This has led to outrage in the LGBT community with continuing attempts to get the phrase reinstated.

 

(An) audience member said it was urgent the issue was solved quickly because as it stood now Sydney was pretty much the only major city in the world not to have a Gay Pride parade. “Even Uganda has one,” the man said. “We instead have the Sydney Parade.”

 

http://gaynewsnetwork.com.au/news/national/10455-change-the-name-back-mardi-gras-told.html

[bkkguy]

unfortanetely the video taken by Jamie's friends didnt show him kick a police officer before it was taken.

 

so how do you expect others to "be the judge' when you don't include this!

 

see the first minutes of the clip on the Sydney Morning Herald site

 

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/youll-make-it-worse-for-yourself-new-footage-shows-mardi-gras-teen-kicking-at-officers-20130308-2fp79.html

 

the guy repeatedly punches and kicks police - so he really was resisting arrest

 

there are many arguments to be made about how serious or justifiable the charge was, and how inappropriate the final police response may have been and the police minister has already said the police demands to stop filming were totally wrong but your selective videos don't really tell the whole story and the TV interview  and your post are just simplistic and  facile  -  this guy is no innocent bystander assaulted at random by police!

 

if he didn't get double bonus points by being a gay Aborigine but was instead a straight middle eastern man from Bankstown  going around annoying people like he was would the sympathy and support be the same?

 

bkkguy

[Guest Jovianmoon]

The investigation is ongoing and has not reached a conclusion. It's very tempting to cry 'homophobia', but the facts are not in yet. There have been many cases of people committing criminal acts and then complaining about police brutality when such a complaint may not be warranted. Is that the case here? It may or may not be. Perhaps the victim has a legitimate complaint, perhaps not.

 

I think it's best to wait until the case has been investigated and the facts are in. Keeping track of this shouldn't be a problem as I imagine the media will be all over it and will give us some idea of the outcome. Otherwise a statement is likely forthcoming from the NSW Police. I think we'll find out in due course.

 

Until then I will reserve my judgement regarding the actions of the NSW Police on that night.

[Guest fountainhall]

Whilst I agree the facts are not all in, the clip of the 18-year old being “hurled to the ground” has now been seen1.6 million times on You Tube. Anger in Australia is mounting and a protest march about the incident is planned for Sydney this coming week-end.

 

There is now much more general talk about the police using heavy-handed tactics against gay clubs and pubs, and about the way they deal with the gay community. Some have pointed to an incident last year about a 21-year old Brazilian student who had been handcuffed had 14 Tasers fired at him as he was lying on the ground. He died.

 

"We're disgusted with the way the police treated the entire night of Mardi Gras," says spokeswoman Cat Rose. "It is not just the assault on Jamie Jackson, which is an outrage. Since then we have heard about more assaults by police on the night. The view from police is that the people are the enemy."

 

. . . Last year, the conduct of Australia's biggest police force came under detailed scrutiny after the death of a Brazilian student in Sydney.

 

Officers fired Tasers 14 times at Roberto Laudisio Curti, who had stolen a packet of biscuits from a convenience store and was behaving erratically after using a small amount of LSD.

 

The weapons were discharged even as the 21-year-old man was lying on the ground in handcuffs. After examining disturbing video footage of the young man's final moments, a coroner said the police had been reckless and had abused their authority.

 

Stephen Blanks, the secretary of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, believes these are not isolated incidents but "seem to indicate a problem with the general culture of the police".

 

"There have been incidents over the last several years where the police have acted with violence beyond what is reasonably necessary, and have been captured on video doing so," he says.

 

"We think this points to deeper systemic problems within the New South Wales police force."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21741185 

[Guest Jovianmoon]

Point conceded. I remember the Brazilian case well as it was all over the news here at the time. 

 

The Mardi Gras case is looking more and more like very poor conduct on the part of the police. I guess we'll have to wait and see how things develop.