Ben's Blog

Disrupting the Land Forces Expo at The Melbourne Conference Centre (Jeff’s Shed)

Wednesday September 11

I am reporting from the big rally.

Passionate and committed young Peace activists are arm in arm with passionate and committed young Pro-Palestine campaigners. They  face off against the riot squad and anyone else the cops can muster. The activists are not here to engage with the police. They are here to engage with the arms dealers, but the Police are here to protect the mostly rich, old, white, male arms dealers from any uncomfortable interaction with the young idealistic activists, some of them victims of the very weapons on sale. 

It starts at dawn. The dealers must run the gauntlet of jeering angry protesters before they can sit down to a lavish breakfast.  

The Police force is out in force, determined to force the activists to desist. There is an awful lot of them, they are awful. On horse back or in full riot gear, bristling with an arsenal of the very latest high-tech weaponry designed specifically for beating the general public into submission: batons, pepper spray, tazzers, rubber bullets, stun grenades.  

The activists are agile and agitated. Dressed in black from head to foot so they can’t be distinguished from each other. When an activist does something the riot squad deems inappropriate, the cops  cover them with white chalk  so they stick out, then they chase them. So the activists throw chalk over everyone, making them anonymous again.  

The cheeky activists  light fires. The smoke engulf the cops. The mounted police charge the activists on their trusty steads. The foot soldiers clean up the stragglers with their trusty batons and a squirt of pepper in the eye, getting in a kick or a punch if they can. When the mounted police venture too far into the crowd they retreat, and the activists fill the breech, cheering and revelling in their victory.  

There are police launches on the river, launching attacks. There are helicopters in the sky, and lots of drones. It is modern warfare! The activists probe every weakness in the defences, but are driven back by the steadfast constabulary, alerted by the drones above to the activist’s every gambit. 

On and on it goes, to and fro for hours on end. As the battle weary constabulary tire they are replaced by fresh recruits, eager for a piece of the action. They jog in formation up to the front lines, their boots crunching in unison like Roman Centurions marching to war. It is chilling! 

Inside the convention center the arms dealers are selling their wares, some tested on the Palestinians in Gaza, or other conflicts they have fostered. Unlike other conflicts, the citizens of Gaza cannot run away. They are like guinea pigs trapped in a cage and used for gruesome experiments. The results of those inhuman experiments are among the weapons now on sale inside the center. 

Outside the center the Melbourne Police Force is also testing out their latest weapons technology on our passionate and idealistic young people.

Ben Laycock