{"id":342724,"date":"2025-12-12T08:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/342724\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T08:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T08:23:09","slug":"climate-protesters-win-groundbreaking-class-action-against-victoria-police-over-use-of-capsicum-spray-australian-police-and-policing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/342724\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate protesters win groundbreaking class action against Victoria police over use of capsicum spray | Australian police and policing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Climate protesters have won a class action against Victoria<\/a> police over their use of capsicum spray during an anti-mining demonstration in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

The first class action against Victoria police in relation to alleged excessive use of oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray was heard in the state\u2019s supreme court earlier this year, and a decision was handed down on Friday.<\/p>\n

The trial before Justice Claire Harris was led by protester Jordan Brown, who was twice hit with OC spray while protesting outside the international mining and resources conference in October 2019.<\/p>\n

Harris found on Friday that Brown had been subject to an unlawful battery by police, and awarded him $54,000 in damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe batteries caused both physical injury to the plaintiff and were a material contributor to the plaintiff\u2019s psychological injury,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

She said these injuries were caused intentionally by police.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

Brown said during the trial that \u201cit\u2019s the most excruciating pain that I\u2019ve ever experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI checked out of my body for long periods of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While police admitted OC spray was used, they argued that its use was lawful.<\/p>\n

Brown\u2019s lawyers argued the spraying was in breach of Victoria police\u2019s internal policies and procedures, Victoria\u2019s Crimes Act and the state\u2019s charter of human rights, and that it was \u201can unreasonable, unlawful and disproportionate use of force constituting battery and assault\u201d.<\/p>\n

They said the trial could set a precedent for how police use OC spray, but Harris stated otherwise on Friday, saying her judgment only related to the way it had been used by police in this case.<\/p>\n

She awarded Brown $40,000 in general damages, $4,000 in special damages and $10,000 in aggravated damages, noting he had sought more than $200,000 and the state had argued he was only eligible for nominal damages.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued after the judgment, Brown said that \u201cputting up a banner protesting against the expansion of mining companies and technologies that destroy the planet should never be a reason for police to come in\u201d with OC spray.<\/p>\n

He said he hoped for a change in culture \u201cto one that actually tolerates the right of political communication, democratic values, and makes the human rights charter in Victoria ultimately meaningful\u201d.<\/p>\n

Melbourne Activist Legal Support spokesperson Anthony Kelly said that on the strength of the legal win, police should immediately ban the deployment of OC spray and other dangerous weapons at protests.<\/p>\n

Police and protesters clashed outside the conference, with officers using OC spray as they attempted to arrest two activists who scaled the Melbourne<\/a> Exhibition and Convention Centre, the court heard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Victoria police said in a statement on Friday that the public \u201cshould have confidence our members are highly trained and there are strict rules surrounding the use of OC spray\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides police with a vital tool to safely resolve situations of violence or serious physical confrontation,\u201d it continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this trial forms part of a class action with further matters before the court it would be inappropriate to comment further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fiona Forsyth KC, representing Brown, had argued the use of OC spray was \u201centirely unjustified\u201d and left the lead plaintiff with physical and psychological injuries.<\/p>\n

Forsyth told the court that Brown was unarmed when he was sprayed twice by two police officers on 30 October 2019. Brown was attempting to run away when he was sprayed by the second officer, the court heard.<\/p>\n

But a lawyer representing the state said the protester was part of a group that \u201cpiled\u201d into an area and blocked their attempts to make arrests.<\/p>\n

In evidence, police officer Sgt Nicholas Bolzonello told the court<\/a> he deployed OC spray because he and colleagues were in a \u201cstalemate\u201d with protesters and were unable to move through the crowd to arrest a protester who was climbing a pole.<\/p>\n

Bolzonello told the court \u201ctensions were high\u201d and that he and his colleagues had just emerged from a \u201chostile environment\u201d.<\/p>\n

He had called it \u201can effective crowd dispersal tool that allows us to move through crowds\u201d, according to the court transcript, but the lead plaintiff\u2019s barrister, Stella Gold, suggested to the officer that there was nothing in the police OC manual that described such use.<\/p>\n

Bolzonello later clarified that his understanding came from training and how it was referred to \u201cinternally\u201d.<\/p>\n

Harris will make a ruling on costs in the case next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Climate protesters have won a class action against Victoria police over their use of capsicum spray during an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-342724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}