Australian activists caution against Pope protest crackdown

Tag : Pressed T-Shirt


Thursday, July 03, 2008

Australian activists caution against Pope protest crackdown

N EW laws to prevent people "annoying" Catholic pilgrims during PopeBenedict XVI's upcoming visit to Australia are likely to backfireand provoke both protesters and jesters, activists said.

Under the headline "World Youth Day gets annoying," a SydneyMorning Herald online blog about the restrictions for the Catholiccelebration from July 15-20 notes that "annoying people has been agreat Australian tradition".

Under the new laws, police will be able to stop conduct that"causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants" in World YouthDay events, which are expected to draw hundreds of thousands ofyoung people to Sydney.

Lawyers say this means that anyone simply wearing a T-shirt with aslogan deemed provocative could be liable to arrest and a fine ofup to 5,500 dollars ($5,250 U.S.).

An online retailer is already advertising T-shirts with the slogan:"5,500 dollars, a small price to pay for annoying Catholics".

The Sydney Morning Herald online carried a picture of a more loadedT-shirt reading: "The Pope touched me Down Under," a pun onAustralia's informal name and the Catholic sex abuse scandal whichnow dogs the pontiff on his travels.

During a visit to the United States (U.S.) in April, Benedictapologised for the actions of child-abusing clergy and Australianvictims of predator priests are urging him to do the same inAustralia.

"The laws are likely to encourage a wave of civil disobedience,with lots of people wearing dissenting T-shirts, conducting marchesand carrying banners and placards," the victim support group BrokenRites said on its web-site.

The team behind the popular satirical television show "The Chaser'sWar on Everything" has also suggested the laws would provoke ratherthan pacify protesters.

The programme won international headlines last year when its starsbreached security at a global summit in Sydney by posing as part ofa Canadian motorcade carrying an Osama bin Laden look-alike.

"I don't think people should accept silly and bad laws like thislying down," team member, Julian Morrow, told the AustralianBroadcasting Corporation.

"I reckon everyone in New South Wales who's concerned about civilliberties should be printing up T-shirts and walking around WorldYouth Day to make their statement," Morrow said.

A group calling itself the NoToPope Coalition has already announcedplans to hand out condoms to pilgrims as part of protests againstthe pope's opposition to contraception, homosexuality and abortion.

Rachel Evans, a spokeswoman for the

The coalition, which brings together Christians, atheists and gaygroups, has said it will defy the new regulations to get across itsmessage that opposing condom use condemned thousands of people todying of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

"We will protect our civil liberties and help young people toprotect their health, and no pope or premier will stop us," saidspokeswoman Rachel Evans.

New South Wales state Premier Morris Iemma told reporters theregulations "were brought in following consultation with the churchand advice from the World Youth Day authority".

But the event's organisers denied that they or the church hadpressed for extra powers to be given to protect pilgrims.

"The church did not ask for any special power to be given topolice," World Youth Day 2008 spokesman Danny Casey told reporters.

"Our concern has always been about the efficient running of thisevent, these are normal powers and people are free to protest."

However, when asked what he would consider to be an annoying act,he appeared to tempt fate, saying: "If someone decided to stage aprotest on the middle of the Harbour Bridge during the pilgrimagewalk... that would probably be annoying."

About a quarter of Australia's 21 million people describethemselves as Catholics, while 19 per .cent say they have noreligion.