G'day NudoNoticias,
I am the organiser for the Brisbane World Naked Bike Ride. Compared with
the 32 people who turned up for last year's ride, as well as much media
attention it received, this year only 6 people turned up and only
community
radio station 4ZZZ and ABC radio gave it any coverage.
The ride was held at the North Wynnum Esplanade bikeway, and there were
more
cop cars and media moguls on the day than participants. None of the
participants went nude after the police threatened them with arrest, as
well
as the lone woman if she took off her top (even though Australian law does
not forbid females to go topfree in public).
We started the ride at 4.20 pm, 20 minutes after it was due to start in
which they cycled from Elenora Park to the termination of the bikeway at
Lota and back again with the police in hot pursuit of them to 'protect'
them
from detractors and hecklers. There were none. Apparently hundreds of
locals were watching from the parks under the bikeway to cheer the riders
on.
I was so discouraged by the poor turnout and the police's misconduct that
I
opted out of riding, preferring to mind the rider's gear at the base until
they came back.
I interviewed some of the riders when they came back. None of last year's
participants showed up this year apart from film-maker Charles Macfarland
who completely spat the dummy during my interview with him regarding the
treatment of the riders by the police, in spite of the fact that he
enjoyed
riding down the track himself.
No members of the local nudist community sought to give me any support for
the ride, apart from a couple of people from Free Beaches Australia who
did
not take part, instead they lurked in the background and talked amongst
themselves for about 10 minutes before leaving.
I am organising another one on March 29th at a more centralised location,
and people will only be notified of it if they join the Yahoo! support
group. I certainly don't want to see any future bike rides in Brisbane
end
up like the one just gone. If I get over 100 people for this one, I will
ride fully nude in it.
Adelaide apparently got 8 participants (even though it was the first state
in Australia to legalise a nudist beach), Newcastle got about 25 and
Melbourne got 50.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldnakedbikerideaustralia
<NudoNoticias@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:3440c2ff-cd23-4704-b7ba-a7d2bfd67f49@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> The next World Naked Bike Ride is on Saturday the 8th of March 2008.
> The ride demonstrates the vulnerability of cyclists on the road and is
> a protest against car culture. Most Southern Hemisphere rides will
> take place on Saturday 8 March and Sunday the 9th of March, most
> Northern Hemisphere rides on Saturday 7 June 2008.
> http://www.nudo.tk
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