Australian police goons bash lawyer


A solicitor [attorney] and civil liberties campaigner was arrested, handcuffed and allegedly had his rib broken by police after offering legal assistance to a man being searched in public. Kristian Bolwell said police manhandled him and broke his rib last week after he displayed his solicitor's identification card to a man being searched in a pub and said, "Hi, I am a solicitor, would you like any help?"

Bolwell is a member of a group campaigning against NSW Government regulations that give police power to stop people from causing annoyance or inconvenience to World Youth Day participants or face $5500 fines. He said his experience was proof that police powers needed to be curtailed, not extended.

The 36-year-old lawyer was eating dinner at the Cooper's Arms Hotel in King Street, Newtown at about 9.30pm on Thursday when eight to 10 police entered the pub with a sniffer dog and began searching patrons, he said. After Bolwell offered assistance to one of them, he said he had a "short conversation" with police, who then pushed him and pinned him face-down on the floor. He was later charged with hindering police, resisting police in execution of their duty and failure to obey a police direction.

He said he had consumed only a few drinks over four hours. A medical report from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Saturday confirmed he had a fractured rib and moderate bruising on his left side.

He said the police actions were "unwarranted, disproportionate and offensive" and that he had behaved appropriately at all times "despite being provoked, assaulted and physically hurt by the police".

Bolwell, a former Greens staffer and director of the Marrickville Legal Centre, is involved with the NoToPope coalition, which is campaigning against the new police powers and the Catholic Church's policies on condoms, homosexuality and abortion. He said his experience, which he could not discuss in more detail due to legal advice, showed police had "too much power and too little training" and were not capable of managing the broad new powers covering much of Sydney's CBD this month. He hired a solicitor, Peter O'Brien, to defend the criminal charges and to pursue civil action against NSW police.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties has said it gets more complaints about police searches than any other issue. Last year the Premier, Morris Iemma, extended powers legislated after the Cronulla riots which mean police only need a "suspicion" of illegality before they can undertake an intrusive search. Superintendent Wayne Cox, from the Leichhardt Local Area Command, said he could not comment on the case because it was before the court.

Original report here



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