Brisbane City Councillor Jonathan Sri demands police apologise after charge dropped
A Brisbane Greens councillor has called on police to apologise for arresting and charging him over a protest at the weekend, saying he did nothing unlawful. And he’s vowed to protest again this weekend.
QLD News
Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
GREENS Councillor Jonathan Sri has vowed to return to another protest this Sunday after he says police withdrew the charge laid against him last weekend.
Speaking to The Courier-Mail last night, Cr Sri said he was now calling on the Queensland Police to apologise to him.
Councillor charged after Brisbane protest
Brisbane Black Lives Matters protests: Did the Premier really do enough?
It came after the Brisbane councillor was arrested at a rally at Kangaroo Point last Saturday, where he says he was charged with one count of contravening a direction of an officer.
Cr Sri last night said he had been advised by the police that they would be withdrawing the charge, as well as the bail condition.
He said because the bail conditions had been withdrawn, he was now able to return to another protest this weekend outside the Kangaroo Point hotel, where refugees are currently being held.
“I was quite shocked because I hadn’t done anything unlawful,” Cr Sri said about his arrest.
“I was held at the watch house for several hours.”
The Gabba Ward councillor said organisers were planning another large rally this Sunday afternoon, and urged police to support the “peaceful assembly”.
The protesters will be calling for the release of the refugees into the community.
Cr Sri defended the protest action, saying it was “very widely spaced” and that crowded classrooms and restaurants probably provided a greater risk of transmission.
He said the bail conditions that had been imposed on him meant he had been unable to go within 200m of the hotel at Kangaroo Point until August.
“I’m optimistic that the charges against other peaceful protesters will also be dropped because I consider them to be wholly unreasonable,” Cr Sri said.
Originally published as Brisbane City Councillor Jonathan Sri demands police apologise after charge dropped
‘Anywhere but here’: Resounding no against Olympic stadium at Victoria Park
The state gov has been warned it would face legal action if it chose Victoria Park as Brisbane Olympic stadium, with a 300-strong protest pushing to save the heritage site.
‘A 20-tonne gum tree fell on our home because council, body corp did nothing’
A Brisbane family has been forced to couch surf after a 32-metre tall gum tree crashed through the roof “like a freight train” after a bitter five-year dispute over who owned the tree.