nate & the G20 Christian Collective...

came down to the office to work a bit more on the project where I bumped into Simon, one of the Seedy mob that works with the education team @ the Den - he was making rice to bring back to the encampment

i'd visited them earlier in the day, and it was a bit ironic that once upon a time I might have viewed such groups as weird and a bit eclectic, and now there i was crossing the road to the peaceful protest morever to visit my friends :P

in any case, in chatting to simon for the few moments he was here, and to the few friends I'd bumped into today, i started to hear about something about media reports... about the radio going on about the 9 or so christian protesters sitting outside the hyatt... so I did a search on the herald sun and age sites, and found this on the age:

Christian collective

G20 Christian Collective spokesperson, Reverend Simon Moyle, said about 10 of members of his group had arrived at the corner of Collins and Russell streets this morning to protest the forum at the Grand Hyatt.

"We're here because this meeting of G20 is not representative of the people it most affects," Mr Moyle said.

"We're particularly concerned about the environment. We've been excluded from (the forum) but we're here to basically ask for tickets on behalf of ... the poor ... to say these people need and deserve a ticket and a place at the table."

Mr Moyle said the group had been asked to move their tent from outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel, despite previous approval by police of the location.
"We're G20 Christian collective and we're part of a whole bunch of churches around Melbourne. We're just a concerned voice for the poor.

"We're here for 60 hours, from this morning to Sunday night and will be maintaining a constant vigil."

and here's another article by the Herald Sun: G20 Christians protest

it's funny, because simon himself was a bit bewildered by all the media attention - he'd thought that at the worst, the Police would tell them they weren't allowed there, and at best they were expecting to be largely ignored. But because they're the only group on the scene at the moment, they're the ones getting all the media airplay :S

christop is there, and is planning to be there for most of it, shunning his bed and his "visions" for the collective and the street - i'm just about to head out to finish buying the rest of the food for tomorrow's BBQ, so i might pop by and see how they're all doing out there