Forum Post: Occupy Melbourne Protester Stripped by Police
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 6, 2011, 7:37 p.m. EST by kaysha
(6)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Just wanted to share this story:
The video in full:
This is the kind of thing we will see soon implemented on all of us in this police state we call life.
No, this is the kind of shit that makes you look like a bunch of stupid spoiled white kids. With your fucking expensive technology out the ass. like you have real problems. It is starting to appear that all OWS wants is to be able to camp in city parks. These staged events do nothing for the real issues. As it stands, OWS seems to only be focused on two things: proving they live in police states by forcing police responses and camping. That does not address real issues around the world such as starvation and true suffering.
And to be sarcastic when discussing starvation around the world, as below posts do, is rather sad and shows a serious lack of knowledge of the rest of the world
I don't really care about my fucking expensive technology that much to justify this bullshit.
Thank you for an actual caring post about someone who was violated :)
You are doing things that do NOT focus on the real issues. The girl obviously knew what the possibilities of going naked in a tent would end in. But it does not do anything for the real issues. What is the point of OWS now, being able to camp in city parks?
I'm adding things to them because it's botherng you and I find it to be sort of funny. I don't want sympathy - I want sympathy for Somalia, Haiti, women in countries who are stoned to death for adultery - you know, those with real problems. I do not need sympathy. But so need sleep. Try not to get your blood pressure up too high, but if you do, feel fortunate for having accessible health care.
I would love to have punishment for adultery same with men that shit shouldnt take place. I bet your one of those women who cheats on her husband on a regular basis but in my life i prefer to remain true to one person thanks for your thoughts you dumb slut. Also i do not condone rape or violence that takes place in those countries before they are stoned but i also dont use it as an excuse to win a argument i had no grounds starting.
Women being stoned to death is not ok. Women being stripped in public is also not ok. Unless of course, the latter owns a mobile phone and happens to be white. Your logic is insane & your soap box is too high.
Being naked underneath whatever one chooses to wear does not justify twelve police offers tearing it off and leaving her near naked in public.
I'm beginning to suspect you don't like women very much (or 'whites').
Lol your an idiot this is about police violation and look at ows they want to occupy homes fucking wake up you stupid woman.
Lol your a fucking stupid idiot enough said about how your mind works. You should be exterminated by the government you dumb cowshit.
Honestly, I kind of agree with him. I saw the video of that girl and the other "tent monster" guy prancing around in those tents. How can anyone take this movement seriously with people like that getting attention? They are obviously on some kind of drugs. It is hard to feel bad for this girl.
How can i take this movement seriously when it wants to move into foreclosed homes now? Everyone has their own way of doing things and just because its not your way it doesn't give you any reason to judge it.
You really think that protesting at the site of a foreclosed home and prancing around a park wearing a tent as clothing make an equal amount of sense?
I don't judge them. A lot of people have drug problems, I would never judge. But things like this do go a long way molding the opinion that the public, the actual 99%, have of Occupy. Very few people who see those videos see that woman as anything more than a lunatic.
Fairly presumptuous to say that those people were on drugs. They were just having a bit of fun. If they had been warned about the tents, it would be reasonable to arrest them, but stripping a young girl in public is unacceptable and unjustified.
How can you arrest someone wearing a tent and put them in your cruiser?
20 years experience breaking down encampments:
You take hold of a tent pole in 2 places, and pull 2 sections apart. It falls into a series of light weight sticks on an elastic cord. Do this twice. Pull them from the sleeve on the tent, and the tent is now a sack, with a person in it.
Very simple. Very easy. Safe.
Replace the tent with a blanket or a towel.
No they are not equal sense you and your friends can go camp in someones old foreclosed home and break the law. What has this lady done to deserve being gang stripped and left half naked in a public park? I see you as a lunatic if you dont believe an injustice has been commited.
How are the cops supposed to know what she is wearing under there? Common sense would say that people don't wear tents as their normal clothing.
And if you really think that was an injustice, you need to look around at the rest of the world.
In the video, as they cut the tent they could see her back, and see what she did and didn't have on. It is clearly visible in the video. They went ahead and stripped her. They did not put her in a cruiser, but left her there undressed in the middle of the park, probably because she had broken no law by wearing a tent.
Thank you cmt for aother intelligent post on this topic. :)
Did you even watch the video she said she had no clothes on underneath and countless people told the police as well. They were violating her rights and thats fact. Australian newspaper wouldnt have written about it otherwise
Exterminated? Really? Like put in a labor camp? Or a bullet in the neck?
Why not both, who is this lady to come into this post and defend the police and then try and preach out world hunger issues. I would like to see the police strip her clothes off in public and then we can all laugh and go haha but what about world hunger? stupid cunt
So you think she should be executed for stating an opinion (even obnoxiously)? Wanna know who the real cunt is?
Are you a troll to? come to post more shit and twist peoples words? everyone will be sorry bill s1867 has already been passed soon enough we will all be screwed. you can live in your little bubble with laws and peaceful protesting. make sure you keep following the 1%'s rules like good little sheep dont be bad even though they beat and torment you. Ahh fuck why not let em kill you as long as you do it peacefully right? Movement needs a wakeup and legal spewing shitheads like you are the problem.
You type from the comfort of your home with an internet enabled device. Oh you're a truly suffering lot. Boo fucking hoo.
I never said i was suffering im sharing someone elses suffering. Dont talk to me about materials when your typing as well as i am. I am no more part of the problem than you. Unless your just some homeless guy trolling from a coffee shop.
I know what I have. That's the point. We are fortunate. The naked girl had a fresh hair do. Oh the injustice.
She had a fresh hair do? It looks to me like a naturally curly mop of hair. I think every human in every corner of the world is entitled to the dignity of wearing clothes, spoilt or not.
Then put clothes on. She has clothes. She has food.
Oh she took a shower is that now not allowed to? Boy you are a stupid bitch just because you volunteer 1 hour a month to a organization doesnt make you a hero. Post your assets up and a spreadsheet of your time spent with these people who are worse off. Lets see how much you really contribute to society.
You are clueless. How often do you get out of your picturesque part of the world? I've been to many third world countries. I've planted seeds in fields with the indigent, and people below seem to find helping truly starving people something to be sarcastic about.
You've been to many third world countries...but did you stay there? Are you still planting seeds with the indigent today?
No. Are you? And it's not boasting, it's answering the guy's question of what I've done to help people starving around the world.
I'm not the one boasting. I'm expressing sympathy for a young girl who was stripped nearly naked in a public park. You're showing a disturbing lack of sympathy, washed over with several statements about how incredibly ENTITLED you are to judge protesters by virtue of your own incrediby selfless deeds. Seems you desire respect a lot more than you think.
Again, focus on the issues. Wasting the moments to bring attention to real issues by wearing a tent naked on purpose - staged - does nothing. Unless your real issue is that you can't camp in a park. It's wasting time. it's childish. read the other posts. Protest the real issues. Why spend all this energy on being allowed to camp in a park?
Wow. The below comment stating that OWS doesn't "give a fuck about world hunger" is super creepy too. I feel certain the rest of us do not agree with that.
I believe Origa's posts pretty much sum up what kind of person he is. Sounds very right wing to me.
Make up your mind bitch am i a very right wing or a very left wing as you said earlier hahaha. You dont know your ass from your face.
Go to bed bitch or post a topic that i can come post stupid comments on.
Your the one spending energy arguing about world hunger which OWS doesnt give a fuck about until the 1% start contributing. Hunger is not a main goal and issue on this website government and police state is now fuck off.
Haha i dont care what you did, thats the thing about life is personal choice. But there is laws to protect us as well. Goodnight you gas guzzlin fat american bitch. Enjoy work tomorrow. Oh and also i have traveled the world as well but i dont act like a god because of it.
What the ripe fuck are you babbling about. I'm asking why you want people killed because they express an opinion you don't like. WTF is wrong with you? Try getting yourself under control. You are the one coming off like some asshole troll.
Lol leave this topic you misinformed troll. I see you trolling all day on OWS i bet your a undercover cop to.
Yep. No answer to the original question. Misinformed? So you didn't say a woman should die for expressing an opinion? Fucking coward. Have to admit I didn't expect you left wingers to call for killing people quite yet.
If you can recall i said the government should since if you didnt already know they plan to. All i said was she deserved it not that it should happen. Please get off your high horse and stop cock gobbling my balls.
That is not whatvyou said. Whatever. Get bent coward.
Haha tell me what i said are you the government now? Go away and speak some legal bullshit somewhere else.
"poof"
Keep editing your posts pinker to look right. Your back 2 hours later re editing posts so others sympathize with your dumb bitch ass.
Stupid bitch get off this website then and go support a world vision show.
A totally staged setup and the police fell for it.
Next time I dress up as a tent on halloween ill be sure to bend over for my ass raping by the police. Oh wait maybe i was filming a movie for youtube, Oh wait maybe i was having fun. You have no reason to criticize this girl for her actions because you do not know what took place. But will you allow this to happen. To those of you with children next time your kid wants to play dress up outside it looks like 10 police will be coming by to cut their clothes off with knives and leave them naked on the street. Wow that is really acceptable right? Wake up.
Yes it's acceptable.
Because I planted seeds with the indigent.
The biggest mistake that the cops made was not arresting that girl. I'm assuming it was some sort of violation to have a tent in the park. The girl thought that by not wearing any clothes under the tent she would be able to skirt around the law/ordinance. It looks like she was wrong.
You're assuming a violation. I suspect that you are wrong, based on what the video shows.
The usual scenario is that the tents must be moved or else arrests will follow. Since the tents moved, there were no arrests. In the Occupy near me, today, all who moved their tents avoided arrest.
Stripping her and leaving her there suggests that she was right that they could not arrest her, because she'd broken no law.
Melbourne City Council had determined that the structures were not allowed on site. Hence, there was a violation.
This is from a Melbourne newspaper:
"Police said they advised protesters that if they chose not to wear clothes under the tents, they would be given reasonable time to dress before the structures were seized.
''Three of the four protesters co-operated and evacuated their tents. The fourth, a female, refused to comply with direction,'' police said.
The officers should have arrested her for obstructing them from removing the tent. They should have removed her to a more private location and been prepared with a blanket or something to cover her. She should not have been left there in the park in her underwear.
Is something that a person is wearing and walking around in a structure?
To my mind, when they stood up, the tents were revealed as costumes. They say that she would not evacuate, but she was up and walking around. Dancing, even. She couldn't exactly take the tent off without getting some clothes first.
I'd have to go back and watch the video again and focus on her, but the direction that I think she failed to comply with was to stop making fun of the police.
If they have no right to strip her, how can she be arrested for obstructing them? On what basis do they have a right to strip her? The fact that they did not arrest her strongly suggests that she had not broken any law, and they had no legal basis to lay hands on her.
Their city council determined that no tents were allowed on the property. Would it be different if the tent was set up and she just decided to get naked inside of the tent to prevent its removal? Not any different. When she bought it at the store it was a tent. When she opened the box it was a tent. When she cut arm and head holes in it and walk around, it remained a tent.
I agree that they should not have stripped her publicly in the park. I explained how I think they should have handled it.
Which did they actually say? No structures? Or no tents? You've said it both ways and you have me curious. Do you have a link to the actual wording?
I do not have the actual wording. Based on the actions of the police, I would assume that tents are included in the ban.
Here is the wording from the horses mouth..
http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/more-news/8359-victoria-police-response-to-todays-occupy-melbourne-incident.html
That was dated today, and appears to be a response to what happened. If anyone finds the wording of what they were told not to do beforehand, I'd be curious to see it.
Who else is old enough to remember tent dresses? (Sorry - couldn't resist.)
SO what have we learned from OWS to follow the governments laws and rules that they pass at anytime in secrecy or not. Man may whatever u believe in have mercy on you when your time comes. You will regret posting this non sense and will know how she felt to have basic human rights violated.
I'm assuming that the "tent costume" prank was a little protest about the law regarding tents in the park. So, I don't think any laws were passed in secrecy.
Beyond that - there may come a time when my basic human rights are violated. I hope it doesn't happen, but if it does I can assure you it won't be because I made some silly choices in my life.
No but you will be thinking back to videos like this and saying my god those people were right all along.
No, this is the kind of shit that makes you look like a bunch of stupid spoiled white kids. With your fucking expensive technology out the ass. like you have real problems. It is starting to appear that all OWS wants is to be able to camp in city parks. These staged events do nothing for the real issues. As it stands, OWS seems to only be focused on two things: proving they live in police states by forcing police responses and camping. That does not address real issues around the world such as starvation and true suffering.
And to be sarcastic when discussing starvation around the world, as below posts do, is rather sad and shows a serious lack of knowledge of the rest of the world
This was a joke. Having a sense of humor does not harm anyone.
Im keeping you up bitch hahaha it doesnt bother me ill be up for hours. You have to go be a corporate slave tomorrow though and your gonna be tired hahahaha.
This is ridiculous. Not the cops. the girl. get a fucking grip. what the fuck problems is that girl fighting for? what the fuck is the videographer saying "she was in pain" over and over for. the dumb ass chick was the one naked under a tent. this shit is getting more and more ludicrous by the day with what some of these dumb ass kids are doing. YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT REAL SUFFERING IS. SEND YOUR FUCKING TENTS TO SOMALIA.
It was a joke. JOKE!
It looked like an encampment. It was a few people in tent costumes.
She was distressed by being stripped in public and left there. That is a reasonable reaction on her part.
Nothing else to say you undercover piece of dog trash?
Honey, I'm not an undercover anything. These kids don't know what real suffering is. Don't know what starvation is. I'm calling it as I see it. Did the UN have to drop ship food to you today because the rebels are starving you to death?
Are you so stupid that your going to cry to me about world hunger and do nothing yourself? You type from the comfort of your home or in this case police station with nothing better to do than be a troll
Suffering comes in many different forms and the painful truth is that capitalism is largely responsible for most of it. That's the point you seem to be missing (or refusing to acknowledge). I don't see how three protesters playfully running about a public space wearing tent outfits are trivialising the suffering of anybody else.
Perhaps you are stripped to your underwear daily by packs of men but most women aren't accustomed to that sort of treatment and, in my opinion, there's no justification for it.
Oh and swearing and shouting in your responses don't garner much respect. Take a deep breath and try again.
They knew the rules, but were trying to skirt around the rules by making them into costumes. Once the officers approached the four tent-wearers, they were asked to come out of the tents so they could be seized. 3 of the 4 complied - this young lady did not. She was given an opportunity to get dressed, which apparently, she declined. The joke was over, the cops were there...you made your point - now get dressed and get out of your tent. You can't just expect the cops to walk away and allow her to have the tent on the property because if they did, within an hour there would be dozens of tents occupying the space again.
You have seen the videos of aggressive officers on the internet. This was a calm group of officers who came to accomplish one task. And then they calmly walked away. The only thing that surprises me is that no one here has described them as "fully equipped riot cops" yet.
The video does not show her being offered clothes. The audio of the bystanders does not fit with that offer having been made.
The video starts in the middle of the interaction. It obviously doesn't show everything that was said between the police, the council and that young lady.
That's accurate. And what I said is also accurate.
I don't care about gaining your respect. You're looking like a bunch of brats. And the thing is that there are truly important issues that should be coming out of OWS, such as getting money out of politics, discussions that should be happening, but it is getting lost in these incidents you continue to force police into and the movement becomes more of one trying to prove we all live in police states. Again, you haven't a fucking clue what a police state is.
And I'm sure the truly suffering people of the planet have the time or energy to be playfully running around in a tent wasting a perfectly good place to escape the elements. it's wasteful and childish.
Again, presumptuous. I don't live in America, nor do I live in Melbourne where this incident happened, so how do you know what I have and haven't a 'fucking clue' about?
It's great that you've invested your own time and/or money in making a difference to someone, somewhere in the world, but take a break from the pretentious boasting for a moment to acknowledge that NO woman, anywhere in the world, deserves to be stripped and left crying in public by a pack of men..regardless of what she was wearing or what kind of phone she might have been carrying.
This was a staged event. Turning this movement into trying to prove you live in a police state rather than focusing on the real issues is screwing this up.
Haha you are posting things that are getting beyond the point of stupid. Give up you middle class housewife and go back to washing dishes and trying to save the world one paycheck at a time. Pop out some kids to while your at it.
I participate monthly with Doctors without borders to help the truly down trodden. Have you seen Haiti lately? I'm sorry, but sometimes I look at these kids and it is just too absurd.
Is your only peeve with this they have money to buy tents? Are people not allowed to buy tents now? they have to donate to your world hunger. Get off your fat ass you stupid american bitch and take a real fucking look at the world hunger isnt the only problem.
And what are you doing up there in your gorgeous part of the world? World hunger IS the biggest issue.
I dont have to explain to you what i do because this topic is not about world hunger. Fail bitch.
It's the issue for me. Brats. A bunch of spoiled white brats. Goodnight. Hope the ice skating is good this year.
Haha spoiled bitch i live on my own and support myself. blame capitalism for the starving children not someone who is just living life like everyone else. Learn the real issues that need to be addressed on OWS including bill s1867. Look it up bitch it means u can be detained and killed at anytime in any country.
I'll buy anyone's leftover tent. I'm looking for a high-quality backpacker.
Well, they have plenty of money to buy tents. Sad little things.