Labor Premier Chris Minns has escalated his targeting of peaceful and legitimate protest with an announcement that a dedicated, permanent, and heavily armed police unit will be used to target protests and public demonstrations.
Greens MP and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson said:
"This announcement has explicitly and deliberately misconstrued the political expression through protest as dangerous and extremist, akin to vile mass murders and terrorist events. The Premier has got to quit this Chris Minns is making a habit of deploying state violence against political opponents and the community at large, this is dangerous to our democracy,"
"Creating dedicated police forces who will be rapidly deployed in the community with high calibre and rapid fire weapons will not prevent people from engaging in protest, all it will do is put everyone at far greater risk of violence, harm, and death,"
"Seeking to arrest your way to some twisted vision of social cohesion is frankly fascist, and yet this NSW Labor Government seem determined to take every bad step when it comes to caring for and healing our communities,"
"Just a few weeks ago, I was standing with Jewish People, Muslim People, First Nations People, Queer People and tens of thousands of caring and compassionate people in the community. This wonderful gathering for peace was socially cohesive, non-threatening, and determined to express their political views. Chris Minns incited Police to attack, and assault that community, and he has now announced that he wants this to be a permanent fixture of our democracy, he should be ashamed,"
"Premier Chris Minns is escalating the conflicts between the community, and he is signing the guns that will be deployed in response to peaceful gatherings. It's time for NSW Labor to reign in their authoritarian leader, and take responsibility for the damage he is doing to their movement and our community," Ms Higginson said.
