Early this year at Welcomefest we saw what happens when a protester throws his shoes at Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. His name is David Sprigg and he asked me to come to court on the 4th of November as a witness. I wasnt called into court, David was concerned they would accuse him of resisting arrest in which case he would have used my video footage.
I asked David would he mind talking on camera about why we were there and why he threw his shoes at Peter Dutton then the well-known civil rights activist Ciaron O’Reilly spoke at the vigil, congratulating David and wishing him good luck for court. Watch the video below
David represented himself in court, he argued that his action was political protest and not public nuisance but at the end of the day he was fined $1000 for public nuisance. Peter Dutton had been subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness, but he is now overseas and the defence withdrew the summons.
I would describe David as a gentle man, a pacificist, an activist and like Ciaron O’Reilly he is also a religious man. I noticed before David entered court he and a couple of his friends held hands and said a prayer. Let me know what you think of Peter Dutton in the comment section.
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