Police arrested 280 people, including two senators, during a violent demonstration and march in Brisbane's King George Square, The Canberra Times reported on the front page 41 years ago today.
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The demonstration, which had been called to protest against the erosion of civil liberties, ended in mass arrests in spite of its quiet start. Queensland Labor Senator George Georges organised the march in attempt to serve a petition in support of a Queensland bill of rights.
But he was arrested after twice leading marchers out of King George Square into the ranks of an estimated 700 police. Labor MP Tom Uren was arrested alongside him.
The demonstration was one of the largest and most violence in the state since the Queensland government introduced anti-street march legislation in late 1976.
Police made methodical sorties into the crowd to arrest what they termed the "obvious troublemakers".
"No Australian should have to apologise for being present anywhere in Australia. ... Laws - be they just or unjust laws - that apply to one of us apply to all of us," Mr Uren said.
"And the struggle against those laws, when they are unjust laws, is the struggle of all of us."