OFF THE WIRE
RECREATIONAL motorcyclists will protest across Australia on Sunday against the Queensland government's new anti-bikie laws.
Rallies are planned in every capital city except Darwin, with the biggest expected in Brisbane.
Grass-roots
riders have organised the events, mainly through social media, saying
laws aimed at criminal bikie gangs have resulted in the harassment of
law-abiding motorcyclists.
Civil libertarians, who've described the laws as "scary", will also join the protests.
Australian Motorcycle Council (AMC) chairman Shaun Lennard has been invited to speak in Hobart.
"At
last count I saw 24 different events around the country. They've been
organised at the grass-roots level by people around the country
concerned about what's happening in Queensland," he told AAP on Friday.
Last month the AMC launched a fighting fund to raise money for any High Court challenge against the laws.
Mr
Lennard said the AMC met a few weeks ago with Queensland's police
minister and police commissioner to express its concerns, and another
meeting is scheduled for Tuesday next week.
"Our main push is
against this profiling of riders by Queensland police who want to ask
questions of anyone riding a motorcycle about connections with
proscribed organisations," he said.
Mr Lennard said the AMC also
wanted police to abandon the suggestion recreational riders register
their events to avoid police attention, describing it as silly.
Brisbane
protest organiser Gabriel Buckley, who is a member of the Liberal
Democrats, says the laws are an attack on civil liberties.
He's
expecting between 1500 and 2000 people to rally at parliament house,
including recreational riders who'll be arriving in groups from
Redcliffe, Ipswich and Stapylton.
Mr Buckley said a primary
concern was that the laws reversed the onus of proof for people accused
of links to proscribed criminal gangs.
"As anyone who's done logic 101 knows, proving a negative is nigh on impossible," he told AAP on Friday.
"And any organisation can be added to this list without any sort or review. It's all based on ministerial whim."
The
rally at Brisbane's parliament house begins at 10am (AEST) on Sunday.
The Hobart event, on the lawn outside parliament, begins at 9.30am
(AEDT).
Police and the Newman government have previously asked
recreational riders for patience amid the bikie crackdown but concede
there will be disruptions for them.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/national-protest-against-qld-bikie-laws/story-fni0xqi3-1226771389061
