Растасибирск

Pro-cannabis protest held in peace, man
By SEAN GILLESPIE - The Southland Times | Wednesday, 30 April 2008

Police made no arrests at a pro-cannabis protest in Invercargill yesterday — despite a cannabis plant being in plain view and supporters openly smoking the drug.

A police officer at the scene, next to the Cenotaph in Dee St, read the Misuse of Drugs Act but after talking with the protesters did not act on it.

Protest co-ordinator Dakta Green said it was the group's most heated exchange with police on its nationwide protest tour but was pleased it had not gone further. "It was a perfectly reasonable and responsible thing for the Invercargill police to do — this is a peaceful political protest and they did right to step back and withdraw." There had been two arrests on the tour, in Palmerston North on Good Friday, for cannabis use.

Senior Sergeant Olaf Jensen, of Invercargill, said police didn't undertake the search for operational reasons.

Southland area commander Inspector Tony O'Neill said the group's aim was to provoke a reaction — which police were not going to give it.

He also questioned the positioning of Norml's bus so close to the Cenotaph only days after Anzac Day. Promoting what was, whether the protesters liked it or not, an unlawful activity in the shadow of a monument devoted to men and women who had lawfully died in service of their country was disrespectful, he said.

About 60 people turned up in the rain for the afternoon rally to give their support for legalising cannabis.

The protest trip was organised by the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Norml).

Originally, it was just to visit a friend in Dunedin but developed into Norml's most extensive tour, with protests throughout the country, Mr Green said. "In a stoner moment, we invented 42 towns in 42 days just to get to him in Dunedin." And in true pot-smoking logic, Invercargill was the 43rd stop on the "42-town" tour.

The group also plans to protest on Stewart Island today.

Police have arrested 21 people on the first day of the annual Mardi Grass festival in Nimbin in northern New South Wales.

The three-day event in the town is billed as a cannabis law reform rally.

Police say most of the arrests are for drug offences.

Earlier in the week, police warned festival goers that no exceptions to drug legislation would be made and the use, sale or consumption of cannabis would be prosecuted.

Police relations in the town have been at a low ebb lately and Hemp Embassy spokesman Michael Balderstone says things would be no different at Mardi Grass.

"We're not going to leave and people are not going to stop smoking pot, so it's just a waste of money and it's time everybody sat down at the table and talked about it," he said.

[align=justify]A pro-marijuana festival ended in violence in the Greek capital after police moved in to arrest protesters. Officers fired tear gas to clear scores of youths during clashes in Athens.

Officers took action after protesters burned tyres and blocked a busy road outside a university campus.

No arrests or injuries have been reported during three hours of clashes late on Friday night.

The march was organised by a minor environmental party. They blame `a group of 50 masked individuals’ for the damage, implying it was a provocation by the police.

The two-day festival at the Agricultural University of Athens is part of an annual international campaign to promote the legalisation of cannabis.

It is against the law to grow or smoke marijuana in Greece, although the drug is widely used.

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