Australia police 'use serious weapons' on anti-Israel protesters: Activist
Australian police have used pepper spray and stun grenades against protesters demanding a halt to weapons sales to Israel, whose genocidal war on the Gaza Strip is in its twelfth month now.
Thousands of people gathered Wednesday outside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Center, where arms industry figures from Australia, the United States, Asia and Europe have gathered for a three-day weapons fair.
Organizers said up to 25,000 people had been anticipated to turn up at the demonstration to demand a change in Canberra’s stance on Israel’s bloodiest-ever military campaign in Gaza.
About 1,800 police officers were deployed to the convention. They used tear gas, stun grenades and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
Police said in a statement that officers arrested 39 protesters for offenses such as assault, arson and blocking roadways.
Jasmine Duff, spokeswoman for Students for Palestine— one of the organizers — said in a statement that police “used serious weapons on peace activists that should be banned for use on demonstrators, including pepper spray, which is classified as a chemical weapon.”
"We’re protesting to stand up for all those who have been killed by the type of weapons on display at the convention.”
But police, Duff said, “hit us with batons, including hitting one man so hard he had to go to hospital and they shot us with rubber bullets.”
The Australian government has been under pressure by tens of thousands of protesters who have participated in numerous protests against the country’s arms industry’s involvement in Israel’s war against the people of Gaza.
Heat Treatment Australia (HTA) is a company that plays a vital role in the production of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters – the same model that Tel Aviv is using to bomb Gaza.
Weekly protests outside the company have sometimes brought production to a halt there.
Israel’s war machine has killed more than 41,000 people across the besieged Palestinian territory since October.
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