Yeah, Im sure the Australian and their "right" wing fellow travellers were quite upset that the (hoped for) large scale violence didnt occur.

More Olde war stories for the grandkid little protesters of tomorrow ;-)

I have often marched happily with my family and chatted with cheerful crowd-control police, my little boy admiring the police horses.

But on some recent marches in NSW the police seemed to have been explicitly briefed to be hostile to protestors. It is plain to read in the faces, as well as the numbers, of the thin blue line. I was shocked, for instance, when a student march from Sydney Uni turned up outside the building I worked in at the time (the State Liberal Party offices were on the top floor) and I found myself behind not one but four ranks of police "protecting" a very ordinary office building from a couple of hundred unarmed laughing teenagers. It was absurd.

Given all the idiot fencing and the sheer number of police, it was a foregone conclusion that Saturday's rally would leave a sour taste in my mouth. I did not attend; the only thing I really wanted to protest against were the measures taken to deter protestors (why quarrel with a circus?). I have no intention of being treated like a sheep due for crutching, nor of putting my child in such an environment.

I have no doubt that the police behave with hostility because they are under strict instructions to do so. The brief is not always so aggressive; last year's climate-change march, for instance, was a (very well-attended) walk to the park.

Crickey, we have never fought for anything in this country, I think the coal miners, waterside workers and builders labourers had more battles with govt police tactics, and they were just for scab labour, for big buisness throwing the poor out of their rentals, and other local disparities. Here we are talking about the wanton invasion and resulting deaths, mostly murder of over a million Iraqi's and Afghani's, and what? Coupla marches etc. Bush over the coat hanger. There was more violence at Maroubra ( stomp stomp) and the scapegoated leb sucked in to having a tear jerker hike up in New Guinea, after mind you.. seven months in kiddy jail.. yes he has a record now for taking down a pathetic rsl flag... he didn't burn it by the way.. but a tv station burnt one for it's tv realism.
I'm afraid that Lazy got it far far to good on the Aboriginals back Ozzys of the last thirty years, have lost the plot about how to keep the govt in check.
You didn't see those angry young men and women who draped themselves in the britoz flag at the beach that day, in this march eh? no no.. they would be on the side of the cops wanting to bash anyone that doesn't look like them.
A very confused youth we have as a result of constant barrages of propaganda from pro howard media etc.
Our repression of today is far far more than it was back in the 60's
but it's a media repression by govt fear mongering.
What were we talking about? Oh Apec!
gone gone gone never to return... just like a million good people.
you can get Iemma's email addy on googles and give him a serve while your at it.. who cares that he doesn't read it? Some drone in his office will. Yes make your day!

Neilum,

You’re dead wrong we have never fought for anything. Our soldiers, sailors and airmen have distinguished themselves in conflicts across the world, more often than not fighting for other people’s rights.

Your arrogant disdain for our flag and your hysterical rantings about murdered Afghanis expose your extreme left views.

Do you even know why we are in Afghanistan, or who the president is, or anything at all? I don’t think so. It’s not Aussies that have changed, its that we have a new generation of rabid leftists who have grown up (or not) reading the rantings of lunatic left websites and think they represent mainstream views.

The idea that the media is pro howard is just ridiculuous. There is no evidence for that at all.

Did it occur to any of you whingers that terrorist just might use the march as cover to wreak havoc? How small does the possibility that this might happen have to be to ignore it? Maybe if the twin towers hadn’t been flattened and holliday makers in Bali hadn’t been ripped to shreds we could feel safe in assuming such things could not occur. I bet you would be screaming that the police hadn’t done enough if a bomb exploded on your march.

And then there is the home grown anti-globalisation anti everything( except pot smoking and puppies) bunch.
If you have a look at the history of meetings such as APEC across the world you will see that this ratbag element frequently instigates violence and rioting. We only need look as far back as the recent G20 in Melbourne. Thirty police were injured.
summithttp://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-battle-of-collins-street/2006/11/18/1163266834498.html

What people like you have to realize is that we live in a democracy where the majority rules. A noisy misinformed minority doesn’t have the right to dictate terms to the rest of us.

PaulL,
Agreed. The only thing that saved Sydney from the violence of the G20 episode was the 'rabid proof' fence and police in large numbers.

Those that destroy public and private property, injure police, throw condoms filled with urine and use marbles to injure police horses need to be dealt with harshly. Let us hope the courts impose adequate penalties on those arrested last Saturday.

The big problem we have is that, in a democracy, these imbeciles get to vote and breed. Mores the pity.