Media Coverage: ABC Triple J - HACK
Dr Holly Champion, a young full-time piano teacher living in Sydney, had never been in trouble with the law.
But after she and other Extinction Rebellion (XR) protesters were arrested on Monday, she was slapped with the kind of bail conditions normally reserved for bikie gangs.
The conditions include staying out of the Sydney CBD and not contacting or "going near" other members of Extinction Rebellion — a loosely defined organisation that has no central membership list, induction ceremony, uniform, ID card or secret handshake.
Simply by attending court they'll be breaching their bail conditions, according to NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Pauline Wright.
"To prevent them from going into the Sydney CBD is a very harsh condition," she said."It will likely affect people's ability to go to work to go to university to go about their lawful business in the city."
She said this condition on its own was too onerous, but the condition of not associating with other members of XR was "absurd".
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