by Cam Lucadou-Wells
‘Stop the Genocide in Gaza’ protestors rolled out a huge Palestinian flag in Harmony Square in response to Greater Dandenong Council rejecting a push to fly the flag on its flagpole.
At the snap-rally on 24 January, a crowd of about 100 chanted, drummed and flew Palestinian flags in protest to the council’s decision two nights earlier.
Amanda Villalobos, from Free Palestine Dandenong Group, said “a lot of people in the Palestine movement as well as in the community” were upset by the rebuff.
The sentiment behind the large protest flag was “if you’re not going to raise the flag, we’ll raise it ourselves”.
Meanwhile, Greater Dandenong Council plans to “pursue enforcement actions” against organisers for staging the protest without a permit.
“Naturally, when organisers hold impromptu gatherings in public spaces without a permit, Council is concerned about these risks,” a council spokesperson said.
“We will seek to pursue enforcement actions consistent with our local laws.”
The council set “reasonable and appropriate” criteria for issuing permits for community events in Harmony Square, the spokesperson said.
“These criteria are reasonable and appropriate, aimed at ensuring the safety of our community and providing adequate insurance coverage in the event of any injuries.
“Despite no permit application from the event organisers, we were aware that a snap protest was planned.
“Council undertook a risk assessment on the available information and put measures in place to ensure the safety of community members, library patrons and our staff.”
The day before the protest, the council issued a ‘first and final warning’ to Ms Villalobos for a 10 January pro-Palestinian protest without a permit.
She was warned she’d face a fine of up to $3846.20 and legal action for future unauthorized events.
The group responded with a cease-and-desist legal letter citing the rights of protest and freedom-of-speech.
Regarding the 10 January protest, Ms Villalobos said her group had “missed” a tight council deadline for providing a traffic management plan and public liability insurance but the council was pre-warned of the event.
“It was too late to cancel the event. People will come anyway so we went ahead.
“We organised a face-to-face with the council to forge a path of collaborative communication.
“They said to us we would let you have an action without a permit but issue you with a written warning.”
The council had been “hostile to us from the word ‘go’”, citing difficulties getting permits in the past.
“We’re conscious, law-abiding citizens and want to do it the right way.”
At the latest action, the council disrespected protestors by “turning the volume up” on the Harmony Square big screen’s live programs such as the Australian Open and Big Bash events.
“In the past we’ve had issues with the council around that screen. At past protests, we’ve had to ask the council to turn the screen off.”
The square’s big screen carried various usual programming due to there being no planned, permitted event at the time, the council spokesperson said.
“The Australian Open and the Big Bash were set at ‘Moderate’ volume as usual, to facilitate community enjoyment.”
