Occupy Sydney
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Occupy Sydney was a
social movement A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and may ...
and protest as part of the global
Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...
s, in
Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...
. The occupation began on 15 October 2011 outside the
Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. Th ...
in
Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.
. The Martin Place occupation was first evicted by
NSW Police The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...
on 23 October 2011. This eviction and later police action was named Operation Goulding. Another eviction attempt occurred on 2 February 2012. The protest site was removed five times in early July 2013, only to re-establish itself each time within hours.


Overview

Some of the major themes common to the protests included
economic inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
, the alleged assault upon
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
at the hands of government and law enforcement,
social injustice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...
, corruption in the financial sector,
corporate greed Criticism of capitalism ranges from expressing disagreement with the principles of capitalism in its entirety to expressing disagreement with particular outcomes of capitalism. Criticism of capitalism comes from various political and philoso ...
, and the influence of companies and
lobbyists In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, whi ...
on government. Other issues that past and current participants have expressed include concerns with free assembly in public spaces, housing affordability and homelessness in Sydney, the treatment of Australia's
indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, and policies regarding the acceptance of asylum-seekers and refugees. Some within the Occupy movement (Sydney and abroad) have also espoused conspiratorial viewpoints.


Rallies

The largest rally took place on 5 November 2011 through Sydney's
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
(CBD). During the Form 1 process some protesters had agreed to cease the rally by 4:30 pm, however this decision did not represent the views of many of the other participants. Due to a number of reasons, including the large numbers of police assembled at Martin Place, the crowd made the decision to move to
Hyde Park Hyde Park may refer to: Places England * Hyde Park, London, a Royal Park in Central London * Hyde Park, Leeds, an inner-city area of north-west Leeds * Hyde Park, Sheffield, district of Sheffield * Hyde Park, in Hyde, Greater Manchester Austra ...
, where they remained until they were evicted by police. The movement then re-established itself at Martin Place, where it has remained for the last two years.


Elections

Glenn Wall of Occupy Sydney ran as an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
candidate at the 2012 Sydney by-election. He finished fourth out of five candidates, receiving 2.2 percent of the vote. The seat was won by independent candidate
Alex Greenwich Alexander Hart Greenwich (born 28 November 1980) is the member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Sydney since the 2012 Sydney by-election. He ran as an independent and was backed by his predecessor, indepen ...
.


Evictions and Occupy Sydney responses


N.S.W. Police-initiated eviction attempts and arrests

On the morning of Sunday 23 October 2011, more than 100 police led by Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch forcibly removed about 80 protesters, with some protesters claiming that excessive force was used. The police and the New South Wales government defended the level of force, while Clover Moore, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, expressed concern about the violence, saying: "The city respects the right of people to protest". This eviction and later police action was named Operation Goulding. The Occupy Sydney response to this eviction was supported by Councillor Irene Doutney's motion put to the City of Sydney Council, to allocate Occupy Sydney a permanent protest space. The Occupy Sydney General Assembly agreed to not attempt a full re-occupation pending the 7 November 2011 Council meeting, where this motion would be heard. An Occupy General Assembly was called to immediately follow the Council meeting. During the interim, some Occupiers maintained a daily physical presence. Police also guarded the Occupation site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Following the adverse 7 November 2011 Council decision, a small group of Occupiers autonomously re-established the Occupation amidst a heavy police presence. Upon news of a re-occupation occurring, resources flowed back into Occupy Sydney. The General Assembly later endorsed this Occupation. In another eviction attempt on 2 February 2012, seven people were arrested and a significant amount of property was seized. Despite media reports at the time that declared the end of the occupation, protesters maintained a continuous presence at the site. On 15 February 2012, seven Occupy activists were arrested following a protest held outside the Greek consulate in Sydney City, over
austerity Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
measures. Of the seven, five were released without charge and two were charged with public mischief. Both of these individuals later escaped conviction.


Sydney City Council-initiated eviction attempts

The first council-initiated eviction attempt on the Occupy Sydney protest in Martin Place was at 7.30 p.m. on 3 July 2013. Occupiers returned on the same evening by 8.30 p.m. The site was also removed on 5 July 2013 (twice) at 9.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m.; 7 July 2013 at 6.00 p.m.; and 9 July 2013 at 8.30 a.m. On 3 February 2014 an Occupy Sydney participant won a stay of proceedings http://www.jdbarrister.com.au/images/menu/Priestley%20Court%20of%20Appeal.pdf against the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions who on the instructions of NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell had appealed an earlier dismissal of a charge of camping and staying overnight.


See also

* List of global Occupy movement protest locations


References


Further reading

* * *


External links

* {{Occupy movement
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
2011 in Australia Protests in Australia Temporary populated places in Australia