Coronavirus: Brisbane activists planning to defy protest court order

Refugee activists are threatening to defy a Supreme Court order against a planned sit-down protest on Brisbane’s Story Bridge.

Brisbane’s Story Bridge. Picture: AAP

Refugee activists are threatening to defy a Supreme Court order against a planned sit-down protest on Brisbane’s Story Bridge after the “breakdown” of talks with Queensland Police and the Australian Border Force.

The demonstration over the detention conditions of more than 120 refugees — housed in hotels, some for years, nearby to the Bridge — was initially scheduled for last Saturday.

But organisers agreed to a postponement after the Palaszczuk government sought an injunction citing COVID-19 concerns.

A spokeswoman for the Refugee Solidarity Brisbane Meanjin group said it would go ahead with the protest action until its demands were met.

“We know that the representatives inside this meeting have the power to release these men into community detention and to allow them freedom of movement from the compound,” the spokeswoman said.

“This is one very small demand as part of the campaign to have them out of the detention centre by Christmas time.

“There are no negotiations happening today, this is a demand. If they do not meet this, we will take a major arterial road and we will sit down and block it until these men are given some freedom.”

A deadline of 4pm Wednesday has been given by protesters to reach an agreement with authorities, otherwise the group says it will blockade one of the feeder roads to the inner-city bridge.

According to the Refugee Solidarity Brisbane Meanjin group’s Facebook page, a mass sit-in is already planned at neighbouring Raymond Park at Kangaroo Point, which has attracted interest from almost 3500 people.

Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said she shared state chief health officer Jeanette Young’s concerns about the risk of community transmission at the planned protest, saying the cancellation of a mass gathering of over 3000 people was the “sensible outcome”.

“The Supreme Court injunction we were able to secure over the weekend was a sensible outcome and I believe the cancellation of that planned protest is supported by the vast majority of Queenslanders,” Ms D’Ath said.

Tuesday marked 10 straight days of no new community coronavirus cases in Queensland.