NSW: Students to protest against amalgamations at M1 rally = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
04-10-2001
NSW: Students to protest against amalgamations at M1 rally = 2

Organisers of the M1 protest said steps were being taken to ensure there was no violence
on the day, including preliminary talks with police.

"We're starting a process of negotiation with the police in which we're hoping they
will agree that they won't approach our protest in the way they approached S11," said
M1 spokesman Sean Healy.

"A degree of hysteria built up such that they felt that they had to go in hard, which
we felt at the time, and still do feel, was inappropriate," he said.

Meanwhile, protesters would also be trained in non-violent manoeuvres at workshops
over the next couple of weeks.

Students were just one of the community groups M1 was recruiting in the lead up to the protest.

Mr Healy said while it was still three weeks out from the protest, M1 had received
expressions of interest from up to 12 schools to join the blockade.

A spokesman for New South Wales Education Minister John Aquilina said if students intended
to be absent from school on May 1 to attend the protest, they must obtain their parents'
consent.

The spokesman said the government remained committed to its plan to close and merge
some Sydney schools.

Public consultation on the schools package would continue until the end of May.

AAP tso/rp/gmw/br
A

KEYWORD: M1 SCHOOLS 2 SYDNEY (REOPENS)

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