Global ganja protest hits Australia's northern frontier

Spirits were high and chants rang out during today's Global Marijuana March in Darwin.

Dozens of people waved placards and banners and traffic was halted as the procession wended its way from Raintree Park to Darwin Police Station, and then to the site of the Northern Territory's first ''hippie commune'', at Lameroo Beach.

Speakers covered a range of topics, including the continued rise of the police state in Australia, draconian sentencing regimes faced by non-violent drug offenders, and the trials of Schapelle Corby and the so-called Bali Nine.

Event MC Robert Inder-Smith, an active member of the Darwin-based Network Against Prohibition (NAP), reminded the assembled crowd that Darwin's entry in the global protest was physically the closest to the ten young Australians currently suffering in Bali's Kerokoban prison.

Local writer Gary Meyerhoff, also a NAP member, told the crowd about two ''forgotten'' Australians: Nguyen Tuong Van, 24, and Tranh Van Than, 39.

Nguyen Tuong Van is currently in jail in Singapore, and Tranh Van Tan is in jail in Vietnam. Both have been found guilty for non-violent drug offences and are on death row desperately awaiting responses to their clemency requests.

Mr Meyerhoff implored those present to pressure the Australian Government to cut all military and economic ties with regimes that continue to impose the ultimate penalty for breaches of outdated drug laws.

Members of the NT branch of the Socialist Alliance also participated in the Darwin protest today.

This year's Global Marijuana March, initiated by the US-based Cures not Wars, will involve nearly 190 cities throughout the world. Nimbin, north of Sydney, was the only other town in Australia to participate.

The march has been an annual event globally since 1999 and this was the second time that NAP has facilitated the event in Darwin.

Planning is already underway for next year's march (May 6) and Darwin's participation has been confirmed.

The struggle to end the 'War on Drugs' will continue in Darwin next week. On Saturday, May 14, NAP will hold their 22nd Community Smoke-In for Human Rights. The smoke-in starts at 12noon in Raintree Park.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please call NAP spokesperson Rob Inder-Smith on 0415 16 2525 (+61 415 16 2525 from overseas) or email media(at)napnt.org.