No War protesters pay final compensation

Stop the War Coalition

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January 30, 2004

Anti-war activists?prison sentence hypocritical

Dr Will Saunders and Mr David Burgess, the two anti-war protesters who painted "No War" on a sail of the Sydney Opera House last year were today sentenced to 9 months?imprisonment to be served in periodic detention. The two activists have also been ordered to pay the Sydney Opera House Trust뭩 full compensation demand of $151,000.

The Stop the War Coalition, a broad community-based coalition of anti-war activists and organisations, declared the sentence "outrageous" and clearly failed to take into account the social and political context in which the protesters acted. The Coalition has organised pickets of hundreds of people in support of Will and Dave at their court hearings.

Anna Samson, a spokesperson for the Stop the War Coalition, pointed out the irony of the sentencing judge뭩 position. "Judge Blackmore argued that there was no difference between the men뭩 desire to make a political point by painting the Opera House and 멲n irresponsible drunken man?graffiting private property. This was consistent with his view that the invasion of Iraq was 멼rrelevant?to the question of how Will and Dave should be treated by the legal system. At the same time, the judge believed the severity of the sentence was warranted to act as a 멺eneral deterrent?to all activists who may consider disobeying the law in such a public manner in the future.


"If the Judge wanted to make an example of Will and Dave to the community then he has succeeded. He has showed us the hypocrisy of a system that jails non-violent protesters for expressing the will of millions of Australians, while our Prime Minister, John Howard, who is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqi children, is yet to be indicted for war crimes.

"Australia was drawn into an illegal and immoral war that the majority of Australians opposed. The Howard government ignored the peaceful demonstrations of a million citizens through the country뭩 streets. Will and Dave are heroes who did their utmost to try and prevent innocent people from being unnecessarily slaughtered and for this they are being sent to prison."

The Stop the War Coalition has pledged to continue the campaign to have Will and Dave뭩 sentence overturned.
The campaign to end the occupation of Iraq is also far from over. "Jailing activists will not deter us in our struggle to bring justice to the Iraqi people and to hold our governments to account," Ms Samson said.

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22:48 AEST Mon Aug 29 2005
AAP

Two peace activists fined and jailed for painting `No War' on the sails of the Sydney Opera House have handed over their final compensation payment.

Will Saunders, 34, and David Burgess, 34, were sentenced to nine months' periodic detention and ordered to pay the Opera House Trust $151,000 for malicious damage to the Sydney icon on March 18, 2003.

The pair have raised the funds through donations, `No War' snowdomes, benefit gigs, art exhibitions and other activities
.
They have made the final instalment in their compensation payment.

Burgess said he had no regrets about what he had done.

"After two-and-a-half years the Opera House will receive their compensation and we have served our prison terms, but there are few regrets," he said.

"Ours was a non-violent action, undertaken in desperate times attempting to stop an illegal act of military aggression."

Saunders said Australia had suffered from its involvement in the Iraq war.

"Joining Bush's Middle East crusade has made this country a more fearful place," he said.

"If anyone tried climbing the Opera House today they'd be shot."

The state government last year passed tough new laws with jail terms of up to seven years for people who trespass on or damage the Opera House.

It also announced a $9 million security upgrade for the heritage-listed site, with more staff, tighter vehicle authorisation, digital surveillance cameras and new locks for the building's 2,000 doors.

Saunders completed his periodic sentence last weekend and Burgess is scheduled to finish his this weekend.

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