Aussie Peace Groups Planning Violence
President Bush is visiting Australia tomorrow, and Aussie peace/anarchy groups are planning violent demonstrations.
MILITANT APEC protesters are secretly plotting an outbreak of violence for US President George W. Bush’s arrival in Sydney tomorrow, distributing a rioter’s training manual on how to wear gas masks, confront police and even evade fares.
The clandestine anarchist action, six weeks in the making, has been dubbed “FLARE in the void” and is described as an “Anti-APEC counter convergence”.
Police are already on edge about security, yesterday clamping down on activity in the CBD - including forcing three German tourists to delete photographs they had of the security fence. And APEC-related arrests have already begun with the charging of 12 Greenpeace activists who boarded inflatable boats early yesterday to paint “Australia Pushing Export Coal” on the side of a ship in Newcastle Harbour.
The FLARE (For Liberation Autonomy Resistance Exodus) manual, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, openly declares an intent to commit violence. It tells protesters engaging in “direct action” to form small groups of five to 15 people and to wear masks so they cannot be identified. “It is important to defy police attempts to frighten us,” the so-called Mutiny Collective has written in one section.
The manual also tells rioters to wear gas masks, goggles, running shoes and full-body clothing to protect from tear gas and capsicum spray. It also advises carrying water and a bandanna soaked in vinegar to combat the effects of pepper spray.
The busloads of interstate activists expected to descend on Sydney are also told how to evade public transport fares, including forcing their way through railway station ticket barriers.
(Hat tip: Aussiemagpie.)