Two people have been arrested at a protest outside Parliament House just hours after Queensland’s new hate speech laws came into effect.
Shortly after 12.30pm on Wednesday, officers arrested a 33-year-old man at Speakers’ Corner for allegedly uttering a banned phrase during what police confirmed was an unauthorised pro-Palestine protest.
Footage from the scene shows the man – understood to be a pro-Palestinian activist addressing the crowd ahead of a march – being arrested as the group begins to move.
Officers later arrested an 18-year-old woman, Bonnie Carter, at King George Square for allegedly wearing a shirt displaying a banned phrase.
On Wednesday evening, both walked free from the Brisbane Watchhouse, Nine News reported.
While the woman was not charged, the man was set to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on April 8 for the offence of reciting, distributing, or publicly displaying a prohibited expression.
New laws passed through parliament last week outlawed two phrases commonly used by pro-Palestinian protesters – “from the river to the sea” and “globalise the intifada” – when used to incite hostility towards a group or when reasonably expected to offend the public.
While the phrases were banned through legislation, the attorney-general has the power to regulate banned symbols.
Police would not confirm which of the two phrases had been used, although footage posted online of the protest shows the 33-year-old using the phrase “from the river to the sea” in a speech to gathered activists.
Nine reported Carter’s shirt displayed the same phrase.
Speaking to Nine News, she said she would not wear the shirt again, but maintained that her displaying of the phrase did not align with the new legislation.
“I don’t believe what I did was offending anyone at all, I wasn’t doing anything violent – I had no intention of doing anything violent,” she said.
The laws were ratified on Wednesday morning, and were criticised by civil society groups across the political spectrum, and the state opposition, which opted to vote against the ban in the 11th hour on Friday last week.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
