Homeless demand right to sleep out

Long-grassers took to the streets of Darwin yesterday, demanding the right to sleep out at night.

The protesters called on Darwin City Council to scrap by-law 103, which forbids sleeping rough.

Protesters presented council staff with a mock infringement notice for harassment of the homeless.

The Long-Grass Association also revealed it had lodged a racial discrimination complaint against council.

The complaint is being investigated by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 – Section 9.

The rally began at 9-30am with a peaceful gathering of the long-grassers outside the council chambers.

The protest was attended by about 40 demonstrators with organisers bussing in long-grassers from around Darwin.

Singer and songwriter Neil Murray attended.

Long-grasser Marshall Anderson, 31, said he had come to Darwin from Ali Curung after being repeatedly locked up by police for domestic incidents.

He has been a long-grasser since and said police and council officers made life difficult for local itinerants, sometimes physically and verbally abusing them.

“They kick people … when they are sleeping, they are always asking us to move on, they treat us the wrong way.

“We are long-grassers, we are homeless, we don’t have accommodation, we don’t have anything. I’d just like to be able to sleep anywhere that I want to as long as I don’t make trouble,” Mr Anderson said.

The protest moved to Parliament House at noon.

It became a combined protest by the Long-Grassers Association, Network Against Prohibition and People Against Racism in Aboriginal Homelands against “zero tolerance police tactics”.

There were was (sic) a strong police presence – with about 35 officers watching over about 60 protesters.

NAP co-founder Rob Blackmore said his group’s concerns about policing in Darwin had been borne out by the police presence.

Superintendent Bob Rennie described claims by protesters that zero-tolerance policing existed in the NT as “very unjust”.

“The information that I got from the NAP was that there would be in excess of 200 protesters. We supplied what we believed was an appropriate presence.”

He confirmed police had also been told it was likely illegal drugs would be present at the protest.

Newshawk: Fiona Clarke
Pubdate: 09 May 2002
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Edith Bevin
Copyright: 2002 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/