Police Brutality at Protest Against McDonalds Youth Exploitation
Police brutally arrested fifteen protesters from a coalition of secondary school students and workers at a peaceful May Day protest against McDonald’s exploitation of youth labour.
Police Brutality at Protest Against McDonalds Youth Exploitation
Press Release: Radical Youth
May 1 2005
Police Brutality at Protest Against McDonalds Youth Exploitation
Police brutally arrested fifteen protesters from a coalition of secondary school students and workers at a peaceful May Day protest against McDonald’s exploitation of youth labour.
Witnesses described police kicking a young student and another woman being stomped on whilst she was handcuffed and face down on the pavement. Three teenage girls also had their faces rubbed in the pavement and a worker with diabetes, who told his arresting officer his medical situation, was not released from a choke hold.
The occupation of the multinational was held on the international workers day after the earlier march of 400 demonstrators that included trade unions. The protest had a strong “anti-police brutality” component, as a result of draconian measures taken by Auckland Police at more recent demonstrations.
“May Day is about celebrating the past successes of the working class movement. Mayday commemorates the 8 hour day, the 5 day work week and minimum wages, which multinationals like McDonalds have been eroding through casualisation” said Sarah, a secondary school student from central Auckland.
“If we don’t stand up for our rights, they will be taken away. The police’s brutal responses to peaceful protests are pealing back the civil rights that our parents have worked so hard to defend – and now it’s our turn” she said.
McDonalds hires over a million, predominantly young workers worldwide and is leading the way to the degradation of labour standards; domestically and internationally.
“McDonald’s treatment of workers in the name of profit - poor pay, unsafe conditions, understaffing, few brakes and anti-union policies – are so notorious that the dictionary term ’Mc Jobs’ has been created to describe the conditions workers suffer under multinationals” said Brian, a union
volunteer.
“The drive for corporate profit doesn’t only harm workers, but goes hand in hand with McDonald’s exploitative targeting of advertising to children, unhealthy food, the destruction of the environment and lack of animal
welfare” he concluded.
When protesters ended the protest and attempted to leave the McDonalds building, the manager closed the front gate. When demonstrators finally got out of the building, they were pushed around and arrested by police.
“It is cruelly ironic that we saw another display of police violence at a protest also highlighting that issue. I am convinced Auckland police favour arresting large numbers of people and using excessive force rather than defending our peaceful right to protest” said another union activist, who was also choked at the recent anti-war protest.
Police told one young reporter that he was being arrested for ‘taking photos behind police’s back.’
Activists will be making more complaints against police brutality.
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Comments
Re: Police Brutality at Protest Against McDonalds Youth Exploita
"Police told one young reporter that he was being arrested for ‘taking photos behind police’s back.’"
If I remember rightly there is a stupid little law that needs to be schredded that gives the police the right to arrest someone directly videoing or photographing them. Silly really but the way to avoid arrest is to tell them you are not photographing them, you are in fact photographing those on the other side of them...yeah I know sounds dumb but it works/worked.
As for police tactics, well, time to step up to meet their level of violence with an equal level of defensive action. This means smarter protest tactics.
The peoples right to protest must be protected and maintained in order to maintain fight the rise of the fascist right, for which the police are stewards of. The people must also be defended from these state sponsored abusers who are trying their dandiest to smother the sparks and embers of the beginnings of another period of consciousness street protests in your city and around the motu.
The rise of police state fascism must be met at the barricades with not just banners, poems, chants, anger and protective manoeuvres, but also with bricks and molotovs.
Koianei te rakau matarua a Tumatauenga. Ko te whakangungu tera, ko te koopehupehu tera.