Protesters demanded an end to police harassment of Aboriginal Australians at the first court appearance of Tisha Hickey last week. Tisha is a cousin of TJ Hickey, the Aboriginal teenager whose death in 2004 during a police pursuit sparked a violent race riot.
Tisha was one of seven people, most of them family members, arrested after police crashed her 21st birthday party at Riverstone, in Sydney’s north-west, in September last year.
Tisha, her aunt Robyn Hickey, 54, cousin Jade Hickey, 31, Jade’s partner Jodie McBride, 26, and Karen Bell, 40, were charged with offences ranging from assaulting police to using offensive language and resisting arrest.
Tisha’s brother and cousin, were also charged but cannot be named because of their young age.
Police claim they were confronted with threatening language and behaviour when they arrived at the party following a noise complaint.
But the Hickeys contest they have been the target of police harassment since their relative Thomas TJ Hickey was impaled on a fence post while fleeing from a police patrol in Redfern on February 14 2004.
The 17-year-old boy’s death ignited a riot which resulted in molotov cocktails being thrown at police, Redfern railway station being set alight, and numerous injuries to both police and Aboriginal protesters.
TJ has since become a symbol of police brutality against Aboriginal youth.
Indigenous Social Justice Assocation (ISJA) spokesman Raul Bassi said about 50 people protested outside Parramatta Local Court, where the Hickeys made their first appearance on Monday last week.
About 20 protestors turned out for a second court session on the following day, Mr Bassi said.
“This included passersby who saw what was going on and joined in,” Mr Bassi said.
Protestors, some of whom travelled from outback Australia, carried placards reading “Down with racist police attacks!” and “Solidarity with our tenacious sista!”
The ISJA, which helped organise protests supporting the Hickeys, was established on the first anniversary of TJ’s death to campaign for Aboriginal issues such as deaths in custody.
Mr Bassi said the police were trying to stifle the Hickey family’s quest for justice.
“The police are trying to shut them up,” he said.
“I know of two other cases where they have done things like this.
“On the fifth anniversary of TJ’s death the family went to an aunty’s place in Waterloo, there was a gathering there, no alcohol, a bit of food, and the police came to tell us to keep the noise down.
“They always look for an excuse to do things like that.”
Mr Bassi said Tisha had been brutally assaulted during her arrest, which left her with severe bruising on her stomach, arms and legs, and a ring torn off her bellybutton.
Footage of the arrest can be seen on YouTube and the Sydney Indymedia website.
Magistrate Alison Viney adjourned the case until October 17.
According to the ISJA website, another solidarity rally will be held outside the court on that day to demand that charges against the “Riverstone 7” be dropped.
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