More than a dozen riot police were called and multiple people were arrested at a community garden in Brisbane’s inner-south as it was barricaded off on Monday, with the state government preparing to sell the land for housing.
Kurilpa Commons is a collective on the corner of Boundary and Dudley streets, near the border of West End and Highgate Hill, where a wide variety of fruit and vegetables are grown by volunteers. It was started during the Covid pandemic on state-owned land, and is also used for a range of community events.
Government representatives and contractors arrived at the site about 7am on Monday to erect fences and signs announcing the land would be transferred to Economic Development Queensland ahead of a likely sale.
Protests arrived shortly after, with the scene becoming heated and PSRT Police teams being called. At least six people were arrested for trespassing after attempting to climb trees in the garden.
Two people remained up trees well into the evening, with about 20 people outside the fences calling for police and others to vacate the Commons.
“It’s just absurd to be demolishing a community garden which is growing food for people in the local community in the middle of a cost of living crisis, and to be arresting people for trying to grow their own food,” member Shane Cucow said.
“And just the sheer police presence as well … it’s just crazy.”
Jemika Lancaster – whose sister was up a nearby tree inside the fenced off area – added the garden served an important role in connecting the community, and said the ashes of her friend Zoe had been spread on the site.
“It’s a place of gathering, it is a place of memorialising and commemorating who we are … and also the kind of world that we want to live in … it’s a place to actually gather in a world with so few third spaces.”
A representative for Economic Development Queensland suggested the land was set to be sold for development.
“The Queensland taxpayer-owned site is being prepared to fulfil a community need – more housing,” a statement read.
“The land is owned by Queenslanders and was never approved for ongoing occupation or as a community garden, and users were made well aware of this some time ago.”
Queensland Police said their teams were called just after midday, and they arrested six people over a disturbance.
“Officers continue to engage with two people up a tree to ensure their safe removal,” a spokesperson said at about 7pm.
Brisbane City Council’s representative for the area, the Greens’ Trina Massey, was scathing of the decision to appear without notice and barricade out community members.
“The state government has fenced off Kurilpa Commons, locking out the very community that transformed this vacant public land into a thriving community space,” she said.
“Once again, the state government is working overtime to sell off public land that belongs to the community, while shutting the community out of decisions about its future. Communities deserve transparency and input on public land, not fences appearing overnight.”
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