Sophie Scanlon
- There have been 432 Indigenous Australian deaths in Custody since 1991
- No convictions have ever been made for these deaths in custody
New South Wales Police took legal action in an attempt to stop the Black Lives Matter Protest on Tuesday the 28th of July although the Supreme courts ruled against the event it still went ahead as planned.
To get around this and remain in line with all social distancing guidelines and laws in place to ensure everyone’s safety, the protest’s organiser, Paddy Gibson encouraged people to have picnics in the park and gather in groups of 20 instead.
5000 people expressed their interest in attending the event, but this was deemed unauthorised due to the health risks that it poses, and police were there 15 minutes before the event was scheduled to start at 12 dispersing the crowd.
This resulted in Gibson being detained by police at the event, whilst being arrested he was still fighting for the cause behind the event.
“We will not stop until the guards are charged, charge the guards who killed David Dungay Jr.”
Paddy Gibson
He was also yelling out urging those who had already gathered to disperse in an effort to ensure that the protest doesn’t escalate but there were still 6 arrests made at the event.
A Press Release was posted on the Facebook group, Justice For David Dungay Jnr, following the protest “The actions taken by the NSW police today were a highly political racist attack on the Dungay family’s quest for justice for David Dungay Jnr and are a chilling attack on democracy and freedom of expression.”
David Dungay died after being pinned down by six guards at Long Bay Jail in Sydney and his mother spoke out after the supreme court ruling saying, “I’m going to march on mother earth where they put my son, under my feet.”
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller last week spoke out saying that he was instructing officers to issue as many fines as necessary, “Now whether I can write 2,000 or 3,000 [tickets] I don’t know, but do you want to be that person to get the first ticket?”
The protest never eventuated but it hasn’t deterred the family of Mr Dungay and protest organisers who will continue to fight for their cause.