Gareth Smith, Palestine Liberation Centre
When we saw The Echo’s masthead, ‘Too Many Podcasts and Not Enough Protests’ we naively assumed the editor would relish news of our protest in support of Bernard Collaery, Witness K and Julian Assange.
We informed The Echo a week in advance that we would be posting a 4,291 signature petition to Attorney-General Christian Porter, calling on him to drop the charges against barrister Bernard Collaery and his ex-ASIS spy client, Witness K.
Nine of us assembled at the Byron Post Office holding placards reading, ‘Shame, Australia, Shame’ and ‘Drop the Charges: Bernard Collaery and Witness K exposed Australia’s dirty tricks in Timor Leste’. Several participants held signs supporting Julian Assange. Members of the public complimented our action. Afterwards we sent protest photos and text to The Echo but they ignored us.
Since 2013 The Echo has only mentioned this appalling persecution of two honourable men who blew the lid on Australia’s criminal greed over the oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea, five times. Clearly, justice for the Timorese and for those of us supporting them, is not a priority for The Echo which preferred to front page a McDonald Trump supporters’ rally headlined ‘Bruns Zombies’!
You can sign the petition online at change.org.
