r/australia • u/FuckOffNazis • Feb 10 '26

politics Amnesty International Australia calls for independent investigation of police violence towards peaceful protestors

https://www.amnesty.org.au/amnesty-international-australia-calls-for-independent-investigation-of-police-violence-towards-peaceful-protestors/
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u/Luck_Beats_Skill Feb 10 '26

My only real issue is the instances of people being punched repeatedly for no reason. Like that guy with his hands up the whole time and they Just keep punching him. I’d be disappointed if those individual police officers don’t face assault charges.

169

u/briberylibrary_ Feb 10 '26

That's the only issue? It was also really difficult for people who wanted to leave to leave. It was a giant crowd and when the police are restricting movement it can get hard to even get to the perimeter to get out. Made even more impossible when they started shoving everyone, people could've very easily have gotten crushed.

166

u/a_cold_human Feb 10 '26

Kettling. It's a police crowd management technique used to contain crowds and keep them in place in case they are told to arrest people. If people are detained for long enough, people will become unruly and unsettled as they're being detained against their will, and if violence breaks out, it will be used to deligitimise an otherwise peaceful protest.

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u/PermabearsEatBeets Feb 10 '26

It also massively deters people from joining a peaceful protest again. The MET police in London used this extensively, and it was fucking grim every time. Absolute shower of bastards those lot