Thou shalt not annoy on Youth Day
Extraordinary new powers will allow police to arrest and fine people for “causing annoyance” to World Youth Day participants and permit partial strip searches at hundreds of Sydney sites, beginning today.
“Causing annoyance” could include handing out condoms at protests, or wearing an anti-Catholic t-shirt.
Civil libertarians said they had never seen anything like the new powers and believed they are more extreme and broader in scope than those used during last year’s APEC summit and the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Bigger and better, baby!
The president of the NSW Bar Association, Anna Katzmann, SC, described the regulations as “unnecessary and repugnant”.
Duh.
Surely there are already laws in the NSW Criminal Code that can account for anything that might actually be, you know, illegal, that people might do? On the other hand, sitting back confidently and saying “no, we’re pretty sure that all our existing law and order provisions are sufficient for the protection of everyone involved” isn’t being seen to be doing something. And if there’s anything that people like more than not hearing about politicians at all, it’s hearing about politicians doing something.