Since April, there are now laws in our state that can put people in prison for up to 2 years, facing a $22,000 fine. This is the new Section 144G of the Roads Act— and funnily enough, it’s only been used against peaceful climate protesters.
Many of these protesters are kept in jail cells for up to 35 hours before seeing a magistrate. They face bail conditions that limit what communication platforms they can use (no WhatsApp or Signal) and ban them from speaking to other climate protesters through non-association orders. For breaking a road rule.
In many cases, people don’t even know the people they’re not allowed to associate with, meaning that if they go to a protest or walk on the street and that person happens to be there, they could go to jail for breaching their bail terms.
If we want to save our democracy, we need to protect it. Join us this Saturday in calling to an end for these draconian, anti-democratic protest laws.