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Australian Comedy Group Prods APEC Security

Posted by kdawson on from the blame-canada dept.

ajdlinux writes "Members of the Australian comedy group The Chaser were arrested today after attempting to breach security at the APEC Leaders Conference in Sydney. Chas Licciardello and Julian Morrow were arrested, along with nine crew members (all are now free on bail), just a short distance away from the InterContinental Hotel where President Bush is staying. They had already cleared at least two police checkpoints, according to CNN, disguised as a Canadian motorcade. 'No particular reason we chose Canada,' said Taylor. 'We just thought they'd be a country who the cops wouldn't scrutinize too closely, and who feasibly would only have three cars in their motorcade — as opposed to the 20 or so gas guzzlers that Bush has brought with him.'" CNN has a photo of Licciardello, dressed as Osama bin Laden, being arrested.

2 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Downer on the comedy group's motives by .c · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "Whatever you think of the humor of 'The Chaser,' the honest truth is they were clearly not going to harm anybody in a physical way," Downer said. "They presumably were, as is the nature of their show, aiming to humiliate a lot of well-known people."
    For a politician, this type of harm could be career-ending -- public opinion is everything.
  2. Re:Previous pranks by microbrewer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Bruce Schneier also points to one of the Chasers videos about regarding racial profiling and terrorsim on his blog .

    "How Australian Authorities Respond to Potential Terrorists

    Watch the video of how the Australian authorities react when someone -- dressed either as an American or Arab tourist -- films the Sydney Harbor Bridge and a nuclear reactor.

    The synopsis: The Arab is intercepted within three minutes both times, while the U.S. tourist is given instructions on how to get inside the nuclear facility.

    Moral for terrorists: dress like an American.

    By the way, Lucas Heights is a research reactor. It produces medical isotopes and performs research, and doesn't produce power."

    http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/04/how_ australian.html

    The video can be found here
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=McB9tsabPn0