“An anti–Semite used to be a person who disliked Jews. Now it is a person who Jews dislike.” – Dr. Hajo Meyer, Jewish Auschwitz survivor.
On Thursday 19 March 2026, Queensland police raided a share-house terrorising its occupants some of whom are peace activists. One of the occupants, Franz Dowling, put up a banner expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. The banner calls for peace and freedom for the people who live ‘from the ███████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).
After the police raid Franz Dowling wrote online:
“We were awoken to 7 or 8 police officers pounding on our bedroom doors yelling at us to come out of our rooms, they rounded the 6 of us that were at home, including my heavily pregnant wife, into the lounge-room while they forcibly searched the house and performed pat-down searches of our bodies. They took my phone, my laptop and our dignity as we sat in our own home. There was confusion, there was fear, and there was anger as the reality of complete powerlessness set in.”
These new laws provide police with three new powers:
- The power to arrest and charge a person for saying prohibited words ‘from the ███████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).
- The power to arrest and charge a person for saying prohibited words ‘globalise the ███████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).
- Extraordinary search powers for police to raid homes, search, and confiscate personal digital devices of those people suspected of the above.
Magistrate Sarra went on a fishing expedition for vast terror network in Magan-djin
The third aboriginal magistrate to be appointed in Australia issued a search warrant to give police access to phones and laptops, to prosecute a Catholic worker for putting up a banner saying the outlawed words: ‘from the river to ██████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).]
When Magistrate Sarra heard the case of a Palestinian man blocking the driveway of an arms factory in Tingalpa he said the following words from the bench:
“What was the aim of the protest? Does anyone know? What, kill the Jews like they did in Bondi … You’re not gonna to use my court as a platform. I’m sick and tired of the protest voice. You’re here today because you have broken the law. Now you come here as a form of protest, but you’re not going to use this as a platform to espouse the whatever it is. Now we’ve got United Nations, we’ve got international courts that deal with these issues, and there are rules of law by you breaking the law and exposing yourself to criminalisation. How does it help you or your family in this community? And I’m not talking about the Palestinian or the Jewish community. I’m talking about the Australian community.“
The Magistrate tried to conflate an attempt by a Palestinian man to prevent Ferra Engineering at Tingalpa in Brisbane from sending F-35 weapons parts to Israel used to bomb children in Gaza.
Referring to the Palestinian man, Subhi Awad and his supporters who blocked the driveway at the weapons factory, Magistrate Sarra said the following: “… these people don’t give a toss about the other people who live in the community. There are people who go to Ferra to work. They don’t even know where Palestine is. They just go there because they’re paid to go to work there. They do a day’s work. They get paid. They go home, put food on their table. They don’t know why some clown was on a bloody … hanging off a bamboo pole.“
Zach Sarra may be confused with his role in life. Is he guilty of apprehended bias against the Palestinian defendant? I think events at Bondi may have tipped the Magistrate over into a deranged state trying to conflate those murders inspired by ISIS with Palestinians and their struggle for peace and freedom. Based on this unhinged performance alone, Zach Sarra may be disqualified from hearing any cases relating to Palestine or protests in general. Be also mindful that this performance was in the context of the New South Wales government banning assemblies, a direct attack on democratic rights that was subsequently overruled by the NSW Supreme Court.
Search Warrant signed by Magistrate Sarra
Support from local councillor
Former councillor for the Gabba ward that covers this house, Jonathan Sriranganathan has written about how outrageous this apartheid law is and why we need to resist it directly: “But let’s also reflect for a moment on the ridiculous over-allocation of police resources to go storming a sharehouse at 7:30 in the morning” Jonno wrote on social media.
Remember: This law carries a maximum sentence of 2 years in prison.
“That’s still an absurdly heavy penalty for the crime of simply saying some words (seriously – 2 years in prison if you say words the government doesn’t like – freaking outrageous).
But the maximum sentence reflects the fact that this is not a particularly serious offence in the grand scheme of things.
For comparison, I believe stalking carries a maximum sentence of 5 years prison in Queensland, or 7 years if the perpetrator has also breached a domestic violence order. But when was the last time you heard of 7+ police officers busting into a house because someone was accused of stalking?
Why is it that Queensland police are intentionally putting more effort into policing a comparatively lower-level offence, while simultaneously failing to allocate the necessary resources to deal with far more serious issues like domestic violence?
It’s because QPS are a POLITICAL body. They make decisions about how to allocate resources based on the political views of their senior officers and the politicians who ultimately control them. Obviously police don’t have the resources to send out 7 or 8 officers in response to every complaint about a law being broken. But they have made a political decision to prioritise enforcing this crazy new law limiting our freedom of speech ahead of enforcing myriad other laws.“
Thanks to Jonno for your support!
A warning for people who don’t want to get ‘done’ under this legislation. When police speak to you asking questions about what you mean by ‘from the ███████████████████ [Redacted under Queensland Government directive (2026).] this is a flagrant attempt to get you to confess on their body cam. It is you who should be asking them why they are questioning you. Or, better still, say nothing.
Ian Curr
20 March updated 10 May 2026
What’s on
More than 50% of Boeing’s profits come from weapons not aerospace
https://www-aljazeera-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/liveblog/2026/5/1/iran-war-live-tehran-says-us-ports-siege-intolerable-trump-mulls-action?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQIUAKwASCAAgM%3D
I got no conviction recorded!! 🥳
One of my charges was dropped, and the other changed to a lesser charge. Fantastic news! 🤗
Thank you so much to everyone who supported me through my court process!
Really meant so much having you all there. I self represented in the end, and it actually felt really great to do so.
Couldn’t have done that without you grateful by my side @Goose Magpie Goose Thank you thank you thank you 🙏
Great outcome!
https://workersbushtelegraph.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/wp-17776086252248372805172065668311.jpg
Dr Chris Sarra shocked his Year 7 teachers when he topped his school in a state test. Until that moment, not much had been expected of the youngest of the ten Sarra kids.
He went on to study teaching, and is now recognised as one of the country’s most influential educators
He established a multi-million dollar institute to transform Indigenous schools, and was 2010 Queensland Australian of the Year.
Chris is also on the rugby league commission; the highest an Indigenous person has yet risen in the sports echelon.
Good Morning, Mr Sarra was published in 2012 by UQP. – Richard Fidler.
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/conversations/educator-chris-sarra-continues-to-have-prolific-impact/7754760
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth Jesus’s Christ.
FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA – SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE
In a follow up to my last email, both my son Franz and I have been arrested, separately, for suspected thought crimes relating to Palestine and Israel.
WE dared to display in public the words, “from the river to the sea”, using or displaying such words now being illegal in Qld.
I say “thought crimes” because neither of our displays mentioned Palestine or Israel. So obviously they can only conclude we must have been illegally thinking the wrong thoughts about this conflict.
For nearly two years a group of us have been gathering weekly outside the office of Boeing in Brisbane, to draw attention to their terrorist activity in making missiles, fighter jets, attack helicopters and other weapons of mass destruction, used in present conflicts, especially the Gaza genocide.
When the Queensland government made it illegal to use the words “From the River to the Sea” in public, I went to the usual Wednesday action with a large placard saying “From the River to the Sea, Brisbane will be Free – of Boeing”.
Eventually police came and arrested me. My arresting officer asked me what the words on the banner meant. I gave him a good rave about Being and why we wanted them nowhere in Brisbane, from the river to the sea. He took a while trying to get me to “incriminate” myself by making reference to Palestine etc. Eventually, after exposing the farcical nature of the law, I was happy do so.
He took me to the watch house where I was interrogated about my thought crimes by the “Anti-terrorism squad” (that is not a joke by the way).
This gave me a good chance to explain why we wanted Boeing out of Brisbane, and a lot more- about free speech, terrorism, nonviolence, etc. After an hour and a half they let me go. I go to court on the 14th April
Now, 42 hours later at 7AM, the same ever vigilant anti-terrorism squad raided Dorothy Day house of hospitality, with a team of eight officers.
Franz immediately confessed to his thought crimes, and actual crimes of displaying a banner on the side of the house reading, “From the river to the sea – come and get us (premier) Crisafulli”
Now I guess it is an exaggeration to call this elite squad “ever vigilant”, as the banner had been on the wall of the house for over a week. And, being on a main road and very visible from said road, there is no telling how many innocent citizens may have been infected by the thought crimes emanating from it.
Once at Dorothy Day house, the police searched all the rooms for? Hmm, illegal thinking maybe.
Anyhow, as I said, Franz broke down and confessed, so they eventually let everyone else alone. They confiscated Franz’s phone and laptop – probably the main reason for the raid. They also took the banner and the very paints used to commit the crime. I asked Franz if the took the paper placed under the banner during the painting process. But they did not.
Now, they could find out a lot of information from Franz’s phone and laptop. They could find out who were being infected by these thought crimes, and how far they were spreading.
Perhaps they could investigate the words of the songs on Franz’s laptop sung by his church choir, to see if there was anything about rivers or seas. Perhaps, with names and phone numbers of his fellow choir members they could instigate more raids. (I know for fact some choir members weren’t even born in Australia!)
In the end the police told Franz they would let him know next Tuesday, if or what he would be charged with.
You can read the ABC news report of the raid of Dorothy Day house here. You can also see him interviewed on Brisbane’s Channel Ten news on 20th March (if you can find it).
So there you have it. Another week in the State’s never ending battle against terrorism. Or is it a battle against a few pathetic people who believe they are the ones resisting terrorism? Is it terrorism to say “from the river to the sea”, or is it terrorism to slaughter tens of thousands of innocents with the help of Boeing, Pine Gap and the Australian government? You decide.
Jim Dowling 21/3/26
Not Our Laws
Peaceful Assembly and
March on QLD Parliament
19 April, 1pm King George Square
No to Silence – Louder Together
Repeal the Laws