Australian Politics

It will. all cops are bastards.

Lived in WA most of my life, never had a problem with WA police.

Last time I visited Sydney in 2019 it began to feel like a city from another country and the police presence was a large part of that.

One thing I'll never shake is the guards stationed outside the AFP building in the CBD with automatic weapons. Only places I've ever seen a sight like that are places like Mindanao in the Philippines, where insurgent terrorists are a real threat.

It feels like law enforcement is increasingly willing to incite and provoke violence so they can claim credit for, or otherwise politicise, their response.

It doesn't, but the trauma they'll be exposed to will impact them eventually.

Israel is also the problem everywhere

Na this is bullshit.

I know of cops in small towns like Hill End getting people arrested for driving with morphine in their system ... because the cunt got the guy tested for morphine after the ambulance administered the green whistle.

And cops in Queensland get aboriginal kids, drive them dozens of kilometres out of town, take their shoes and make them walk back.

Cops are cunts no matter where they are.

Just because you aren't paying attention, does not mean it's not a problem. Yes the other protests went well, but consider if there were more Chris Minns. Imagine if One Nation is in power, how would they utilise the police? They are only as good as the person giving them orders. This is why they are a problem everywhere.

Our cops are good...except the bad ones.

New affordable housing policy

No. He rode up on the protester, stepped off his bike on the wrong side (putting the bike between himself and the protester) and then tried to stumble over his own bike to get to the protester.

Maybe he thought the bike would disappear in his inventory slot when he got off it like it's Pokemon.

suspension and retraining

Discharged from the police force.

Ideally, if things are as clear cut as shown in the video. If the protestor committed some unseen offense like spitting on the officer it would certainly justify an arrest, something that might require force if resisted. This guy had his hands in the air. Hard to make any case that this response was justified in any way. Even the cops are innocent until proven guilty though so this is all just opinion.

Going in throwing punches makes it look like the police were drafted out of a particularly incompetent pub brawl. Weird behavior for trained public servants. I don't get how that is justified as crowd control. Makes the cops look terrified and pissing themselves with fear in a country where ordinary people take down armed terrorists with their bare hands and milk crates.

In my opinion this sort of behavior brings the service into disrepute and if not dealt with sends a message that violently assaulting peaceful protesters is tolerable. Training and recruitment have a cost and there could be systematic issues with culture and training that need to be addressed and dealing with individuals and not the organization and leadership would be short sighted. This should be investigated right up to Minns and the instructions he gave about the handling of the protest. NSW police have earned a bit of a reputation for being political enforcers.

To be fair to the cops there are protesters whose aim is to provoke a violent response from police by whatever means necessary. The police have no choice but to defend themselves and establish order with that crowd and people get hurt on both sides. There is a time and place where the police have to use violence to maintain order. In my opinion this didn't look to be such an occasion.