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Sixty people, representing a broad cross section of the activist left and progressive movement, met on July 5 to discuss the implications of the vicious police assault demonstrators protesting outside Israeli-owned chocolate company Max Brenner on July 1.

The key issue debated was whether to set up a broader civil liberties campaign or whether to keep the focus on the 19 people who had been arrested at an action as part of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

Activists at the meeting recognised that the police attack on protesters was part of a the “tough on law and order” agenda of the Baillieu state government, but it was also recognised that as the BDS campaign against Israel has been growing stronger, the Zionist lobby and governments in a number of countries have been attacking BDS campaigners.

The meeting decided to focus on defence of the 19 arrestees, as that enabled the campaign to take up both the issues of Palestine solidarity and civil liberties.

However, the group also decided that if the police tactics against the Palestine solidarity protest on July 1 were repeated at other protests such as the refugee protests outside the detention centres, the group would be open to defending people arrested in these campaigns as well.

Boycott Israel 19 was adopted as the name of defence campaign. The campaign has set up a website, email address and is circulating a statement of support for the campaign and is urging other groups to sign on.

Already, solidarity statements have come from independent journalist and author Antony Loewenstein, Justice for Palestine in Brisbane and Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford four -- Irish men who spent 15 years in a British jail after being falsely accused of bombing a pub.

After workers at a company called Sensis, which is located in Melbourne’s QV shopping centre, witnessed the police aggression against the Palestine solidarity protest outside Max Brenner, their Australian Manufacturing Workers Union delegates committee passed a motion stating: “The AMWU delegates committee at Sensis, located in QV, supports the democratic right to protest.

“We are disturbed by the footage of the police breaking up a peaceful protest, and also by the effective privatisation of public space — we have previously had QV security attempt to move our union stalls from QV. We call for all charges on the Max Brenner 19 to be dropped.”

The defence campaign and the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid have committed to building another Palestine Solidarity protest targeting Israeli-owned companies on July 29 at the State Library, corner Swanston & Latrobe Sts, Melbourne.

The sentiment amongst activists is that we will not be deterred from protests in support of the Palestinians.



The Boycott-Israel 19 defence campaign released the statement below on July 8. Visit http://boycottisrael19.wordpress.com/

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On 1 July 2011, the Victorian police viciously attacked a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration in Melbourne’s CBD.

In one of the largest political arrests in a decade, 19 non-violent protesters were arrested during a boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) action against Israeli-owned Max Brenner store.

The chocolateria in the Queen Victoria Centre is owned by the Israeli conglomerate Strauss group; a company that provides “care rations” for the Israeli military, including the Golani and the Givati brigades — two of the key Israeli military brigades involved in Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza in December 2008/January 2009, which killed more than 1300 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilian, including over 300 children.

The peaceful picket was “kettled” by police before leading activists were individually targeted in an unprovoked attack by the police riot squad. The tactic of completely surrounding a group of protesters is called “kettling”.

The majority of those arrested have been charged with “trespass” and “besetting”, while a small number of the demonstrators were also charged with “behaving in a riotous manner”.

Video taken of the demonstrations shows that the pro-Palestinian activists were completely peaceful and they were attacked in a violent and unprovoked manner by the Victorian police.

The protest against Max Brenner occurred as part of the global Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the apartheid Israeli state.

Inspired by the South African struggle against apartheid, the BDSanctions campaign was launched by Palestinian civil society in 2005.

Endorsed by more than 171 Palestinian civil society organisations, including political parties, women’s groups, trade unions, associations, the BDS campaign is conducted in the framework of international solidarity and resistance to injustice and oppression and calls for non-violent punitive measures to be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognise the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law.

The attack on the peaceful BDS action in Melbourne highlights increasing attempts to criminalise pro-Palestine solidarity activism and also increasing attacks on civil liberties, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in Victoria by the Baillieu government.

In June 2011, Baillieu’s Coalition government introduced new laws extending police powers, allowing the Victorian police to issue on-the-spot fines of up to $240 for using “offensive” language.

The new laws do not define clearly what “offensive” language is, allowing individual police officers to arbitrarily decide what is offensive or not.

The government has also established a new 42 member “Public Order Response Team”.

According to the Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper, one of the primary functions of Baillieu’s new riot squad will be “breaking up public protests”.

Civil liberties lawyer Rob Stary in a media release issued by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid in the wake of the violent police attack on the peaceful BDS protest outside Max Brenner said the attack and arrests showed that “the new Victorian [Baillieu] government is prepared to criminalise legitimate dissent”.

We call on all supporters of human rights, freedom of speech and civil liberties to stand in solidarity with the 19 BDS/pro-Palestine activists who were beaten and arrested by the Victorian police on July 1. Support and/or join the “Boycott-Israel19” Defence campaign today.

How you can support the ‘Boycott Israel 19”

1. Add your name/groups name to this solidarity statement, circulating it among supporters where possible.

2. Check out www.boycottisrael19.wordpress.com for ongoing updates on the campaign. Email the campaign atboycottisrael19@gmail.com

3. Donate to the Boycott-Israel19 defence fund (very important)

Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Commonwealth Bank: BSB: 063-262 Account: 1052 9148
Please tag your donation with the following identifier: DF19