SYDNEY, Australia — New regulations making it a crime to annoy or inconvenience people gathering in Sydney during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit later this month were criticized Tuesday as a heavy-handed blow to free speech. The laws will apply in dozens of areas of downtown Sydney — including the city’s landmark opera house, train stations and city parks — that are designated venues for World Youth Day, a Catholic evangelical festival at which the pontiff will conduct mass and lead prayer meetings.
The regulations give police and emergency services workers power to order anyone to stop behavior that “causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event,” according to a New South Wales state government gazette. Anyone who does not comply faces a 5,500 Australian dollar (US$5,300) fine. Anna Katzman, the president of the New South Wales Bar Association, which represents almost 3,000 lawyers in the state, said making someone’s inconvenience the basis of a criminal offense was “unnecessary and repugnant.”
“If I was to wear a T-shirt proclaiming that ‘World Youth Day is a waste of public money’ and refuse to remove it when an officer … asks me to, I would commit a criminal offense,” Katzman said. “How ridiculous is that?” Lee Rhiannon, a state lawmaker with the left-leaning Greens party, said the definition of what was annoying was open to interpretation and the penalties in the new regulations were too severe.
Cripes, if I were a cop, I’d be arresting people all damn day! Off my lawn!!!
Mister Mustard would be in deep doo doo if he visited Sydney.
luv that pic. From a canuck show – Trailer Park Boys
I thought there was only one Pope!
Next you’ll be telling me he’s not even Catholic.
Will the Pope be barred from entry? Many people find him annoying.
That law sounds pretty annoying to me. They should fine the people who passed it. Why should they be the only one’s who are protected from being annoyed?
I know a few people I’d like to see prosecuted under this…
Geez, Gilbert Gottfried would be put in prison for life!
world youth day??? is this some type of catholic nazi brainwashing event?? if i were in australia i’d be annoyed as a hell….
Not too different from the “Free Speech Zones” concocted in the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zones
Just wait until they perfect the technology for detecting thought crimes…
If the cops are “annoying” you, can you arrest them?
And just rub salt into the wound the Federal Government has kicked in a grant of $22M of the taxpayers dollars to this love in. Talk about annoying and offensive !!
Lock up your kids for the week Sydney.
Goodbye talk radio…^_^
I live in Sydney – I’m annoyed, can I arrest people? Let’s start with the catholic majority state government that passed this farce of a law that flies in the face of every decent step forward in philosophical and legal thought. It is OK to protest against the building of a mosque, or abortion, or the Mardi Gras. note- I am not gay or Muslim, and my views on abortion are still unclear to myself, and as such I do not impose them on others – I will however defend to the last that both pro and anti abortionists have a right to free speech and protest – as does everyone. Without this right we may as well all pack it in and go back to clubbing each other with large blunt objects (oh… such as these supposed ‘laws’) BTW – it will be interesting to see if anyone arrested is actually brought to trial, or if this is merely a form of state sponsored legal terrorism thoughtup because they are too lazy to actually hold the debate… or dare i say it, know they are in the wrong! Those who flail the most and discuss the least generally know that what they are doing is immoral…
The horns of Jericho ! Bring down the wall of legalistic bullcrap imposed by the ‘secular’ state – Noise is a wonderful thing! A few hundred people, each with a big plastic trumpet, all blowing at the same time would make a fracas of biblical proportions – enough noise that an event…. Oh, let’s say a gathering of catholics, or state representatives… no matter how good the pa system, would degenerate into an audio farce. The ‘legend’ of the horns of Jericho is based on the truth that enough noise will send most people crazy – even from a safe distance… say, just outside the ‘protest exclusion zone’.
You people are absolutely ridiculous! The fact that they HAD to introduce anti annoyance laws says enough…
Hundreds of Thousands of people will be coming to Australia – do you want these hundreds of thousands of people to think badly of our country?
I was always proud to be Australian- but issues like this are a complete DISGRACE to the country: I want the people coming here to leave here with a good impression of Australia and of Australians; so i completely agree with the anti annoyance laws, although i wish australians could be trusted enough not to have had to implement these laws.
“oh yes.. lets give condoms to CATHOLICS who have come from all over the world for a CATHOLIC youth festival, because of course they have nothing better to do at a RELIGIOUS gathering than to have sex!” Somehow I dont think that will be on the mind of the people attending World youth day…
How would any of you like it if you had a party or something and then some of the people around the place had t-shirts or signs saying you were a waste of time and money and etc…
But no.. you’d all disagree with this statements similarity because you’re all SELFISH and self centred and wish to ruin things for everyone else…
Wrld youth day will be a great event for Australia; we will have live coverage all over the world meaning publicity; thousands of ppl going back to their country to say how wonderful (or how terrible) the country is… the businesses around sydney will be sure to make money from all the ‘pilgrims’.
Honestly; some people make me sick, it is just as bad as complaining that the olympic games will be held in our country…