A group of queer activists stormed the 2023 Midsumma Pride March on February 5 to protest
the participation of Victoria Police in the parade, as well as Midsumma’s platforming of private
security company Serco, who had a stall at the Carnival event and are responsible for the
reprehensible treatment of refugees and asylum seekers detained offshore. Though Serco were
not included in this year’s march, GEO Group, who run the Ravenhall prison, were included in
the march — trans women imprisoned there face extreme sexual violence, and deaths in
custody have been reported.

Protest participants entered the march in front of the uniformed police contingent, bearing a
banner that read ‘FUCK OFF VICPOL / cops don’t belong at pride’ and chanting slogans such
as ‘no cops at pride, don’t let it slide’, ‘Stonewall was a riot, queers will not be quiet’, and ‘no
assimilation, queer liberation’. They also hung a large banner from a tree at the end of the route,
8 metres wide, reading ‘NO COPS AT PRIDE / BE GAY DO CRYM’.

The protest was organised by CRYM (pronounced ‘crime’). CRYM stands for Climate
Radical/Resistance Youth Movement, and exists as an organising network to oppose all
systems of oppression. Though led by queer youth, they welcome people of all ages and
demographics.

CRYM acted in solidarity with and were joined by queer supporters of RISE: Refugees,
Survivors, and eX-detainees. RISE, a grassroots organisation, called for a boycott of
Midsumma 2023 for the reasons above, especially the inclusion of Serco, among others.
Further details can be found in their open letter:
www.riserefugee.org/ex-detainees-open-letter-to-midsumma-festival/

A CRYM spokesperson said: “Police have always been, and will continue to be, tools of state
oppression. They have thus been used to violently oppress and attack queer people, both
historically and currently, through physical and legal means. To this day, the queer community
is subject to systemic police violence, existing alongside and in collusion with classism,
sexism, racism, and colonialism. Queer history is built upon resistance to police profiling,
harassment, and brutality; acting as though they are our allies is a disgraceful act of
revisionism.”

One participant, a trans woman of colour, reports having been assaulted by a white male
attendee, suffering a laceration and severe swelling to fingers on one hand. Other members had
eggs thrown at them, and some were assaulted by individuals attempting to tear off their face
coverings, worn for privacy and protection against potential retaliation.

A CRYM spokesperson spoke on the context of the history of Pride in Australia: “The very
first Mardi Gras took place because our predecessors were brave enough to stand against the
police that beat and arrested them. It took place in solidarity with the Stonewall riots — the
touchstone of queer history — during which queer people were brutalised by police but refused
to tolerate continued control and abuse.”

Despite meeting some negative responses, there were also many positive reactions from the
onlooking crowd. Cheers, raised fists, and echoed chants all occurred, and some participants
were approached by bystanders to thank them, to ask questions, and to hold productive
discussions. Though the livestream was diverted and taken down for a time, which obscured
reporting of this, those who were present observed such solidarity directly.

A spokesperson for CRYM is quoted as saying: “We believe that Pride should be a space for
all queer people to celebrate the perseverance of our community, and not a space open to our
oppressors. This also goes for private security company Serco, and the countless other
exploitative corporations which have bought their way into the parade; among them being
Amazon, BP, and — for some reason — Greyhound Racing Victoria. It is especially despicable
that the former companies, while respectively exploiting the working class and actively
destroying the unceded Indigenous lands on which we live, would pretend to be allies. We look
forward to a future in which we can be both proud and radical, and we aren’t going away any
time soon.”

CRYM can be contacted on crym.media@proton.me for further information. Images
taken by photographer Matt Hrkac may also be made available.