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Mon 23 Feb, 2004 07:18 pm
At this very minute I'm at work here at Redfern. There are police helicopters above and a line of 16 mounted police waiting in the park. I can only assume that it's coming down very soon..........
Mr. Stillwater--please let us know you are alright!! This is very disturbing--it's the kind of thing that almost always ends tragically.
I assume this is the neighborgood you were talking about on littlek's thread?
Mounted police have just moved away from the park. The police-station is opposite the end of the block I'm at.
Keep low, Mr.
We want you around for a while.
Holy Jumpin. I thought that was over. Be safe Mr. Still!
Do you seriously think that something's about to happen, Mr Stillwater, or is the huge police presence just there to ensure that it doesn't?
Mr....are you and the people in the neighbourhood ok?????
MsOlga - it seemed that the police presence helped ignite the rioting a few days ago - or at least it looked that way from accounts I read.
Mr Still - how is everything?
littlek wrote:MsOlga - it seemed that the police presence helped ignite the rioting a few days ago - or at least it looked that way from accounts I read.
Yes, but they'd have to be very foolish indeed not to be on their very best behavior in the current climate.
no dramas yesterday - everything was quiet at Redfern - as far as the news reports.
No accounting for Stilly, though!
MsOlga - true
Margo - good to hear!
Alive and well fellow cybercitizens!! The mounted police must have been deployed down at the railway station rather than Redfern Police Station. I went for a quick look and all I found were senior police officers and the Minister talking to the media.
Quote:Aboriginal leaders presented Redfern police with 17 demands - one for every year of Thomas "TJ" Hickey's life - as more than 200 people marked the day of his funeral with a march through Redfern to the scene of his death.
The roller shutters on many of the shops in Redfern Street were half-closed in case of trouble yesterday but the tone of what organisers called a "grief and grievance" march was sombre and restrained.
At the Block, a small fire burned to commemorate TJ's life. "It will burn until after the funeral, to send the spirits of white men away," said Jack Morgan, who represented the Hickey family at the march.
Many in the Aboriginal community who did not make the trip to Walgett for yesterday's funeral walked the route. They were joined by members of the wider community, from bankers to students, who spoke of their frustration with how politicians and police had dealt with the riot.
Along the route police kept a low profile, but at Redfern police station marchers were confronted by lines of more than 40 special operations and general duties police, standing behind a crowd control barrier, blocking access to the station.
TJ sendoff
why are they blocking access to the station?
Probably to stop it looking like Redfern Railway Station did on Monday morning. The station commander would have met the protest leaders out on the street to accept the document - I didn't watch it on TV last night, tho.
so, is that the only public transit in or out of the neighborhood?
LOL! One assumes there are buses.....
No, no, the horse-drawn hayrick is still popular!! I suppose you folks have some of them there horseless carriages in those Yoonited States!! :wink:
The railway station which is right across the road from the Block suffered some damage, it is pretty antiquated anyway and could do with a renovation and the reintroduction of a police presence at that location. Believe it or not the Block is very close to the Central Railway Station and the University of Sydney and bang up against the very trendy suburbs of Darlington and Chippendale. There are plenty of bus services running alongside these areas, but not one passing in front of the Railway Station. Probably a very good thing, too.
I was just trying to figure out why the police was blocking the RR station....