Police forces, police powers and policing

鈥楳y daughter didn鈥檛 have to die鈥

Dominic Wykanak read out this moving tribute by Debbie Small to her daughter Rebecca Maher聽who died in police custody in July, at a rally against Black deaths in custody at Blacktown on September 17.

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It has been two months since a young Wiradjuri woman Rebecca Maher died within hours of being placed in a Maitland police cell.

United States: Black Lives Matter movement grows stronger

鈥淲hile police tactics and accountability measures are being examined, many black people are also questioning their safety and place in society,鈥 the San Francisco Chronicle wrote on July 31. 鈥淭hey worry about the next time they interact with police, and about the difficult conversations they must have with their children.鈥 Black people make up 6% of San Francisco's population 鈥 and suffer 40% of the city's shootings by cops. The city's statistics on police stops of Blacks and violence mirror other cities, especially in the Midwest and South.

Cop who leaked police bashing footage facing charges

A Gold Coast police officer accused of leaking video footage showing his colleagues brutally bashing a young man in a police station basement is facing criminal charges. Noa Begic was repeatedly punched to the ground in the station鈥檚 basement with his hands cuffed behind his back in January 2012. While the two officers responsible for the attack were given a slap on the wrist, Rick Flori, the station鈥檚 sergeant, who allegedly leaked video footage to The Courier Mail is now facing charges of misconduct, abuse of public office and fraud.

Dave Zirin: Six US athletes speaking out for Black Lives Matters

Professional athletes provide a flicker of hope during these agonising days by speaking out against police violence. 鈥淪hut up and play鈥 clearly doesn't fly when black bodies are falling at the hands of those whose job is to serve and protect. In fact, it's almost surprising now when football and basketball players 鈥 the two sports most dependent on black labour 鈥 do not speak out.

TV star garners support for #BlackLivesMatter

Jesse Williams used his award acceptance speech to denounce institutional racism and police brutality. Grey鈥檚 Anatomy star Jesse Williams has been attacked for speaking out against racism with an online petition that garnered a paltry 1600 signatures in two days, demanding television network ABC fire the actor. By contrast a counter-petition in support of the star had received 11,000 signatures by July 4.

Letter from the US: How the feds help cops get away with racist murder

Three young African-American women started a blog in 2013 entitled 鈥淏lack Lives Matter鈥 in the wake of the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a racist vigilante backed by the police, for the murder of unarmed Black youth Trayvon Martin. The blog started a movement that took the same name, as young Blacks launched mass actions that broke through the wall of silence concerning police murders of Black people.

Protester wins over made-up charge

Several NSW Police officers have been criticised in court for allegedly grabbing the breasts and neck of an anti-Reclaim Australia protester, then covering their actions up by deleting evidence, making up a false charge against her, lying under oath and attacking her in court. Simone White was arrested at a Martin Place rally last year for allegedly assaulting Senior Constable John Wasko. After a year-long court battle, a magistrate has thrown out the charge and ordered police to pay White's legal costs because their arrest, investigation and subsequent prosecution were so improper.

Bob Brown protest charge dropped

Tasmanian Police have discontinued their prosecution of former Greens leader Bob Brown, who was arrested earlier this year under controversial anti-protest laws which he went on to challenge in the High Court. Brown was arrested in January for standing in the way of bulldozers primed to clear forest at Lapoinya, in north west Tasmania. He was one of the first to be charged under the Workplaces (Protection from Protestors) Act 2014. The law is part of a controversial series of legislation, which aims at deterring protests that interrupt businesses' activities.

Bowraville murders suspect to face retrial

The land between the Clarence and Nambucca Rivers on New South Wales鈥 mid-north coast is Gumbaynggirr country. The Blood Rock massacre took place there in the 1880s, when police surrounded local Aboriginal people and shot them in the waters around Red Rock. A plaque reads: 鈥淕umbaynggirr descendants, especially women, still avoid this headland. The significance of this place, and the rebirthing of our culture, will never been forgotten鈥.

Protesters clash with police at politicians' visits

About 200 unionists, refugee activists and students rallying in Melbourne on April 8 outside a Liberal Party fundraiser to celebrate 20 years since the election of the Howard government, were attacked by police on horses and the indiscriminate use of pepper spray.

New NSW police powers threaten right to dissent

The so-called 鈥渘ice guy鈥 Premier Mike Baird is introducing laws in New South Wales that are designed to intimidate ordinary people from taking part in legitimate protests. The NSW government鈥檚 new anti-protest laws, which it is dressing up as being about public safety, were passed on March 15. Now, despite police minister Stuart Ayres admitting crime rates are falling, the government wants to give the NSW Police Force extraordinary powers to stop protests from even being organised.

NSW protesters: 'We will break these laws'

"This is a law to protect the rich. We will need to break these laws to protect our democratic rights," Aboriginal activist and lead NSW Senate candidate for the Socialist Alliance team in the federal elections Ken Canning, said on March 15.