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What happened?
ASIO calling
Supporters wearing "ASIO" gags in protest at Scott's detention. Melbourne Indymedia
On Wednesday 7 September, shortly after arriving in Melbourne, Scott received a call, from an anonymous number, on his mobile phone. He found himself speaking to an officer from the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). She told him that ASIO wanted to speak with him about his "activities" in Australia, and asked him to attend an interview.
"I'm only here for another two weeks," Scott said. "Is this going to affect my visa?"
The ASIO officer couldn't say. But she did say, when asked by Scott, that he was not required to attend the interview. As was his right, Scott declined the invitation.
Justifably ruffled, Scott called his friend and fellow activist, Iain Murray. Doubtful that the call from ASIO represented anything more serious than "minor intimidation", Murray assured him that he was under no obligation to be interviewed by ASIO without a warrant and provided him with contact numbers for a local community legal service. As a precaution, Murray also contacted civil liberties groups and members of his own small organisation, Pt'chang Nonviolent Community Safety Group, which specialises in providing training and support to social change activists.
Reassured, Scott carried on with his plans to speak at a workshop co-sponsored by Pt'chang, Friends of the Earth Melbourne and the Forest Action Trust, to be held in Brunswick that coming Saturday.
On the morning of Saturday 10 September, after finishing breakfast at a cafe in Sydney Road, Brunswick, Scott was apprehended by six men - a combination of immigration officials and Australian Federal Police - and told that he was being taken into "questioning detention."
"Hey, I'm a peaceful person," was Scott's response. "I'm passive. I'm not going to give you any trouble.'"
