When Protests Meet Public Life: Finding Balance on Melbourne's Streets
Walking through the CBD today, you’d be forgiven for thinking Melbourne had turned into some sort of organised chaos festival. Police response vehicles lined up along Bourke Street, trams getting diverted left and right, and thousands of people gathering at the State Library. It’s become a fairly regular Sunday scene over the past couple of years, but it still gets me thinking about how we balance the right to protest with everyone else’s right to go about their day.
Don’t get me wrong – I absolutely support people’s right to peaceful protest. Democracy thrives when people can voice their concerns, and heaven knows there’s plenty to be concerned about these days. Whether it’s the ongoing conflict in Gaza, climate change, or any number of social justice issues, people need outlets to express their frustrations and demand change from their representatives.
But here’s where it gets complicated. Someone in the discussion mentioned seeing elderly people who’d just left St Vincent’s Hospital getting kicked off trams because the streets were blocked. That image really stuck with me. These are folks who might have just received treatment, potentially dealing with serious health issues, suddenly stranded and confused because transport routes have been disrupted. It’s the kind of collateral impact that protest organisers probably don’t factor into their planning, but it’s very real for the people affected.
The marathon situation adds another layer to this. Training for a marathon is no joke – months of dedication, early morning runs, carefully planned nutrition, and for many people, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement they’ve been working toward. Some participants fly in from interstate or overseas specifically for these events. While the routes apparently didn’t cross this time, the principle remains: disrupting major events that people have invested significant time, money, and emotional energy into feels particularly harsh.
Yet someone made a valid counterpoint that caught my attention: “a protest is inherently more valuable and important than ‘I can run a long way’.” That’s a pretty stark way to put it, but it raises the fundamental question of how we weigh different types of social value. Is a marathon runner raising money for cancer research less important than a protest about international politics? Is someone trying to visit a sick relative less deserving of consideration than someone expressing political views?
Living through the IT industry’s constant changes, I’ve learned that most problems don’t have simple black-and-white solutions. The same applies here. Effective protest sometimes requires disruption – that’s often the whole point. If protests were completely contained and invisible, they’d likely be ignored. But there’s got to be a middle ground between being heard and unnecessarily punishing people who had nothing to do with the issue you’re protesting about.
What frustrates me is when I see discussions devolving into name-calling – “cookers” thrown around carelessly, or people dismissing legitimate concerns about transport disruption as “privilege.” These labels shut down conversation rather than advancing it. We can acknowledge that protests serve an important democratic function while also recognising that their impact on daily life matters to real people.
Perhaps what we need is better coordination. Advance notice for major protests, clearer communication about transport alternatives, designated routes that minimise impact on essential services. The organisers clearly have the capability to mobilise thousands of people – surely that same organisational skill could be applied to reducing unintended consequences.
Melbourne’s always been a city that values both civic engagement and community consideration. We pride ourselves on being progressive and socially conscious, but we’re also a city that looks out for each other. Finding ways to honour both these values isn’t impossible, but it requires protesters, authorities, and the broader community to engage with each other rather than past each other.
The reality is these Sunday gatherings aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Rather than just accepting the disruption as inevitable, maybe it’s time for a genuine conversation about how we can make space for necessary dissent while keeping our city functioning for everyone who calls it home.