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Protest photographer loses part of ear after being shot by rubber bullet (archive.is)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A photographer who provides images for pro-Palestinian groups has lost part of his ear and perforated an eardrum after being shot by police with a rubber bullet during a violent protest against a Melbourne military expo.

The 33-year-old photographer, who provides images for Free Palestine Melbourne and Free Palestine Coalition Naarm, was wounded at about 10am on Wednesday and says he is waiting to find out whether he will suffer permanent hearing loss.

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/protest-photographer-loses-part-of-ear-after-being-shot-by-rubber-bullet-at-rally-20240913-p5kaex.html

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Anti-war demonstrators hurled rocks, eggs, beer bottles and canned food at police, who ~~responded~~ escalated with stun grenades, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets during a series of skirmishes outside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday.

On what fucking planet is shooting, grenading, and chemical weaponing people throwing eggs and shit reasonable?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Eggs might be just annoing to be hit with but I'd rather be tear gassed than taking a stone/glass bottle/heavy cans to my head. A stone with a decent speed and weight can kill you. And I don't think I have to elaborate what broken glass flying around can do to your skin/eyes etc.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

They have shields, visors, and helmets mate. They're not under trebuchet fire, it's gonna be a handful of people throwing small objects. Chemical weapons are indiscriminate torture devices.

Cops are organised, trained and in radio contact. They can do stuff like retreat and encircle.

edit: also have you ever been teargassed? Cause I have lightly once and holy shit I would rather stand in a line with shields and armour and have a few rocks pelted near me. It's extremely painful.

[+] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The problem is the disproportionate force. The police should not be using those weapons. If an officer panicking goes this badly, we shouldn't be blaming that officer or the protest. The problem is that police were firing bullets into a protest, at all. That this was a plan they had on the table for this situation, and they're clearly happy with this plan.

[+] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago (1 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I don't know, I feel like there was some unnecessary derision there.

I like this place because we have discussions, sometimes weeks long, about the subjects, not the users.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Got it, saying protestors deserve to be targetted with indiscriminate chemical weapons = not being a dick. Pointing out that a particular user is calling for the sort of violence banned in the Geneva convention = being a dick.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

saying protestors deserve to be targetted with indiscriminate chemical weapons

Sorry, were we reading the same comment?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I dunno you tell me what the subtext of opening with defending the cops and denying that cops target media. Then goes into both-sidesism.

And then wow look at what happens later:

But to say we shouldn't place any blame on individuals over-simplifies the problem. There are multiple issues at play here, I don't think you can just wave away the personal responsibility of the individuals involved.

Oh look it's both sides are at fault again. If you're filming at a protest, or even attending you have some personal responsibility for getting collaterally shot in the face or teargassed.

This is nonsense, the violence is extremely asymmetrical and involves the use of indiscriminate weapons. I mean imagine if a protestor fired rubber bullets or teargas into a crowd to hit a shell or LM exec, what would anyone be saying about that person? He's not presenting some nuanced critique, he's gone straight into defending violence which would constitute literal war crimes if it wasn't the police doing it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

The pro-Palestine protestors in Melbourne seem to regularly turn events violent. Them turning this weapons expo protest violent WAS the reason I didn't join the protest.