Police defend officer over alleged 'strike' of Kangaroo Point protester
Queensland police have defended the actions of an officer who appeared to strike a protester outside a Kangaroo Point hotel used as a makeshift immigration detention facility.
The incident on Sunday afternoon came as part of rolling months-long demonstrations at the site and after several of the 150 people attending the event pulled at the perimeter fence, police say.
Footage posted to social media shows an officer approach a man near the fence and extend his arm in a jumping motion towards the man, who then fell and was subsequently dragged.
After a preliminary review of videos posted to social media, along with body-worn camera footage, Acting Assistant Commissioner Brian Connors said some of this had been from a "bad" angle.
"[It] appears to indicate that the officer didn't strike the male person directly but reached out with an open hand," he said.
Assistant Commissioner Connors declined to go through a "blow by blow" of the short incident other than to say the fence had been "under attack".
He described the actions as "appropriate" and said the man had suffered "no significant injuries" and did not wish to make a complaint.
But Refugee Solidarity Meanjin, which has been behind the ongoing protests, took to Facebook on Sunday to say the man had been taken away from the site by paramedics.
"He fell to the ground, started bleeding from his ear, and had to be taken away in an ambulance," they said.
The protest to free the refugees was held after a refugee attempted suicide and was taken to the Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre away from his family that lives in the area, the group said.
Jocelyn Garcia is a journalist at the Brisbane Times, covering breaking news.
Matt Dennien is a reporter with Brisbane Times.