Queensland police have dropped charges laid against outgoing Brisbane councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan during a protest outside an international weapons expo last year.
The two charges – trespass and obstructing police – are now said to also have been dropped due to a lack of evidence, after lawyers for the councillor spent significant time preparing his defence.
“Police have demonstrated a consistent pattern of unlawfully arresting me and targeting me, which reflects a broader trend of police abusing their powers to suppress peaceful protest and criminalise activists,” Sriranganathan said in a statement. He said he thought officers’ “heavy-handed” treatment of him compared to white politicians who attended protests was partly due to racism, and suggested he may have lasted longer as a councillor if not for this.
Sriranganathan said he had now been “wrongfully arrested” twice, called on Police Minister Mark Ryan to publicly apologise, and questioned the point of protesters following laws if police arrested them anyway.Responding to questions, a police spokesperson said the charges were withdrawn because a “key witness [was] unable to give evidence on medical grounds” and, as such, the matter was now “considered finalised”.
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