A group of Nazis and TERFs protested against trans people outside of Victoria’s Parliament House on Saturday. It was a rancid display of transphobic, homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic ideologies in broad daylight, and there is more than enough footage to confirm that it was aggressively protected by Victorian Police. This serves as a reminder as to why LGBTQIA+ people don’t want cops at pride, not now and not ever.
For most queer people, it was no surprise to see Victorian Police captured on film forming barricades around Nazis and TERFs while trans rights activists were reportedly hit, pepper sprayed and arrested.
The police force is an institution that has historically targeted and vilified LGBTQIA+ people, especially POC members of the community.
It’s an institution that, for so many communities, only stands to represent violence, oppression and silencing. It does not exist to serve marginalised people. It does not exist to serve people at all. And given its history, no amount of “good cops” (which I’d argue don’t exist) can ever change this.
Most folks understand that the cops can be fkn despicable, but to see police allow anti-Semitic protests in the middle of Victoria was a new low, even for them.
Read the article by Michael Di Iorio on Pedestrian.