'Baffled' peace activist gets $11,700 bill

[WearyOne]

'Baffled' peace activist gets $11,700 bill

American peace activist Scott Parkin arrived back in the US today under guard after Australian authorities detained him in a Melbourne jail for five days for being a "national security risk".

The 36-year-old Texan history teacher says he was made to feel like a terrorist and a criminal and remains baffled as to why six police officers "snatched him off the street" as he left a Melbourne cafe last Saturday.

Parkin said he was interrogated and spent the next five days in solitary confinement in a Melbourne jail.

He was escorted by two Victorian correctional officers on a Qantas passenger plane which left Melbourne yesterday, arriving in Los Angeles this morning.

"I'm baffled," Parkin, surrounded by Australian TV cameras and media, said soon after his arrival at Los Angeles international airport.


http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/baffled-peace-activist-gets-11700-bill/2005/09/16/1126750099540.html

[Stuckinthebush]

1. Jeez! What's with Austrailia?

Are they that connected to Bush?

[ozarkvet]

2. British thing

I think the fine is a british thing. I got stopped in England for driving stupidly (breaking 10 years of driving on right is hard to do!) and put in jail for a day.

Even though I was cut loose after drug/booze test came back negative, I had to pay them room and board for the pleasure.

[WhiteTara]

3. dates back to the inquisition n/t

[RedCloud]

4. Almost 7,000 of it is for two thugs to accompany him back to the USA.

I guess we should spend our money elsewhere and let Australia know about it.