Hundreds of supporters gathered around a CFMEU truck at Town Hall on Saturday, in support of Wikileaks.
Mounted on the truck’s trailer was a stage hosting speakers, including Walkley Award winning journalist and UTS academic Wendy Bacon,
“Lots has happened since we met here in December … Twitter has been demanded by the US Government … to hand up all the private details of certain people, including Julian Assange,” she said.
“In Afghanistan, drones … have threatened to kill people over the Pakistan border. We’re told they’re always Taliban, but of course, as we know from Wikileaks, we still can’t possibly accept that at face value, and we have to know that there are almost certainly innocent people being killed by these drones every day.
“The people who committed murder by killing innocent people by shooting innocent people in Iraq from an Apache helicopter have still not been charged with a criminal offence.
“There’s at least three major war crimes … revealed on that video. What was Bradley Manning meant to do when he came into possession of that video?
“If he had not acted, he would have been potentially guilty of a conspiracy.
“He’s now been five months of solitary confinement. He has the light on all day.”
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said his party was particularly angered by a leak revealing the Australian Governments negotiations with Japan on whaling.
“Here they are in the major Australian daily newspapers speaking in support of an absolute ban on whaling … yet we now know that in the dark corridors, they’re trying to cut a deal with the Japanese Government which would continue to see the slaughter of whales in our southern whale sanctuary,” he said.
“What they’re telling us is one thing. Their real agenda is often something quite different. And it’s that real agenda that we’re getting a look at for the first time with Wikileaks.
“Wikileaks is a lancet of hypocracy.
Police halted traffic as the rally paraded along city streets to reach the US consulate to voice their anger, before speeches continued in Hyde Park.
The Pirate Party exaggerated attendance to online media, claiming attendance of up to 1000 people.
Money was collected throughout the protest to assist flood relief.
By Lawrence Bull
