Vic: Protesters sue police over alleged violence

AAP General News (Australia)
12-13-1999
Vic: Protesters sue police over alleged violence

MELBOURNE, Dec 13 AAP - Protesters who clashed with Victorian police at a shut-down
school are suing police and the state government for alleged brutality, lawyers said today.

Solicitor Marcus Clayton said 26 protesters, including some allegedly injured in the
clashes, were suing eight police officers alleged to have charged demonstrators with batons.

The State of Victoria also was being sued in an action seeking damages and aggravated
damages six years to the day after the violent clashes, he said.

Mr Clayton said the plaintiffs would allege the police actions were planned for political
motives.

The protesters had been occupying the former Richmond Secondary College, which the
government wanted to convert into a girls' college consisting of two other merged schools.

Mr Clayton said the legal action would rely on documents obtained under Freedom of
Information laws that would allegedly show the police action was taken to implement government
policies.

Criminal charges imposed on the protesters over the clashes with police had been dismissed
the following year, he said.

AAP gf/er/kr/br

KEYWORD: BATON

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