An 18-year-old woman was arrested over a message written on her singlet in Brisbane‘s CBD on Wednesday, in the first test of Queensland‘s controversial hate speech laws.
Bonnie Carter was escorted out of the pro-Palestine march by heavily armed officers as she smiled at cameras, her singlet displaying the phrase, ‘From the river to the sea’ in bold black writing.
The six-word phrase has become a focal point of the Crisafulli government’s new hate speech laws that passed last week, which some critics have labelled as a ‘dictator’s dream.’
Under the new legislation, a person can be jailed for up to two years for saying or displaying a banned phrase – including ‘from the river to the sea’ and ‘globalise the intifada’ – if doing so would cause ‘menace, harassment, or offence’.
Another protestor, Liam Parry from the Students for Palestine group, who had spoken to the crowd about the new laws before they began marching through the CBD, was also arrested.
‘I’m not sure if everybody here [knows] the history of the different slogans that the government is trying to ban us from saying, so [in] the interests of education, I want to explain [it] to you,’ he told the crowd, later denying the phrase was terroristic or antisemitic.
‘So when we say, from the river to the sea, we are calling for the freedom of the people of Palestine.’
The 33-year-old man was later charged with the offence of recital, distribution, publication or display of prohibited expressions.
Bonnie Carter, 18, was arrested while wearing a singlet donning the banned six-word phrase
Liam Parry from the Students for Palestine group was arrested after addressing the crowd
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli previously said the laws would ‘stamp out the embers of hatred that were allowed to burn unchecked for too long’
He was issued with a Notice to Appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on April 8.
Witnesses say the duo had been protesting peacefully when armed police swarmed them and took them into the back of a police van.
‘They’re just trying to fearmonger us and crowding us and just arrested a girl. They won’t give any reason and they just dragged her away and put her away in the back of the car,’ one woman told 7News.
Another said: ‘She was literally standing there. There was like 15 cops to arrest one girl.’
Their arrests came just minutes after laws were given the official sign off by Queensland’s Governor.
Ms Carter was charged with the offence of recital, distribution, publication or display of prohibited expressions.
‘She was dealt with by way of adult caution,’ Queensland Police said in a statement.
The Daily Mail has contacted Queensland’s Attorney-General Deb Frecklington, Shadow Attorney General Meaghan Scanlon and the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties for comment.
