occupyallstreets:

This morning at 8:45am a peaceful Occupy Melbourne Protester was violently stripped of her protest costume and disgarded on the ground in her bra and panties. The individual in question was part of the Occupy Melbourne protest and was dressed in a protest costume made from a converted tent. The significance of the costume was to hightlight restrictions placed on protesters staging a 24/7 protest in Flagstaff Gardens.

 
The protester was surrounded by at least 4 Melbourne City Council officers and 8 Victorian police officers.

Her movement was restricted by the formation of officers surrounding her and she was subsequently restrained as officers proceeded with aggressively removing her costume. At each stage she declared that she did not consent or feel comfortable with the actions of the council and police officers, stating that this was a sexual assault.”This is not consensual’.

Her requests and declarations were ignored as officers continued to rip and jossle her costume and person. A knife was requested and used by MCC Officers as the Protest Costume was cut from her body. The remaining severed costume was violently torn from her body while the protester herself was disgarded, semi-naked and crying on the ground as Vic police and MCC officers walked away with the costume. NO EFFORT was made to assess her health or welling after the incident.

Wow. I really do not know what to say to this other than it’s 100% disgusting no matter the gender of the protester involved - but her crying out that it’s not consensual and someone muttering “call the cops…” is just an extra layer of disgusting.

(via anarcho-queer)