Australian police target motorcycle funeral procession for "wearing illegal clothes"

As if Australia needed any more bad press for the authoritarian way in which their government has been behaving in the past couple of years, this is just one more thing to add to the list of reasons why I am happy I do not live in Australia.

I'm not suggesting that my country of USA is much better but this complete disregard for freedom especially given the circumstances, is just horrible.

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The bikers were attending a funeral of a teenager, Andrew Beazley, that was killed in a horrific motorcycle accident. I know people in motorcycle clubs, and despite their gruff exterior, they tend to normally be really nice people and do a lot of kind things. No good deed goes unpunished, especially in Australia.

Many of the bikers were given tickets for not wearing helmets, which yes, is illegal in Australia but it is also a long-held tradition to not wear a helmet out of respect for the deceased. They only do this during the funeral procession, which happened at a slow clip to the cemetery. This didn't stop the police from turning up en masse and basically ruining what was meant to be a show of respect for a fallen teen.

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There is one particular MC that there is a law in Australia where you are not allowed to show support for the group in public, including wearing their clothing. The name of the MC is "The Outlaws" and while this group was tied to criminal activity in the past, the idea that you can be cited, and have your property confiscated just because it has a word on it that the government has dictated is "wrong," is just absolutely ridiculous in the mind of me and anyone else who is sensible.

In the meantime, you can wear clothing that has pictures of mass murderers and iconic global drug lords without any issue. Wear an "Outlaw" patch and you are guilty of a crime by affiliation even if you are not affiliated with them.

This was a preemptive strike and had to have been coordinated beforehand because the amount of police involved was too great for this to be reactionary. Others were cited for blocking traffic, although it is globally customary for funeral processions to get a pass as far as traffic disruption is concerned. One biker was fined for not having his helmet on when he wasn't even on his bike, but was simply standing next to it directing traffic.

I don't know about how it is where you live. But it is customary and respectful to give way to funeral processions and to even pull over on the opposite side of the road when you encounter one. All the times that I have done this in my life I was technically breaking the law as well and so was everyone else. There is a very real difference between a law and its reasonable application.

At least there is one sensible government official who weighed in on this and his name is Shane Knuth. This MP called the surveillance and intervention on the part of police "disrespectful and unnecessary." Clothing, helmets, patches, and even motorcycles were confiscated by the police.

I'm not a big fan of police overreach and even less of a fan of authoritarianism and Australia seems to be going down a really dark path these days. Although I do not live there it seems as though just about anything can get you in trouble with the law there.