Police and Brisbane City Council officers moved in on First Nations protesters camping in Victoria Park on Friday, arresting five people after a tense standoff that lasted about 30 minutes. The operation began around 2.15pm near the centre of the park, where officers advanced on the Goori Camp Embassy as supporters formed a barricade between police and the camp fire.

The morning had already turned combative, though the opposition was non-violent. Derek Oram jnr walked up to officers stationed in the park before the move on the camp and told them, “We’ve started to unpack, you can’t move us — sacred fire.” He first said police could not breach a rope fence around the campsite, then agreed to disband the camp and move it outside the construction zone. Moments later he added, “Were just going to set up later, I don’t give a f---, they won’t be working tomorrow, these council workers.”

Uncle Derek Oram told police and council workers the group had been willing to move once the park was fenced on June 1, and challenged them over whether they were being given that chance. “We were told we could pack up humbly and move behind the fence line, but are you giving us that opportunity, or is this just a publicity stunt?” he said. First Nations protesters lit a ceremonial fire as tempers rose, while the Queensland Fire Department watched from inside a fire truck.

By 2pm, the Goori Camp Embassy had been entirely cleared. Workers then moved on a second camp, Barrambin Djar, atop a hill near the Victoria Park function centre. That site was occupied by local Jagera people, while the Goori Camp Embassy was made up of other First Nations people showing support for the protest against the planned Olympic stadium at Victoria Park.

The fight was not over. Shortly before 4pm, council workers began clearing a pile of cultural wood used on the camp’s main fire, and several dozen protesters chanting “put it back” gathered around the vehicle under a police line. After authorities left the area, protesters collected pieces of wood and returned them to the sacred fire. Greens councillor Seal Chong Wah negotiated her way past the police line, and a council worker told her she could step through to check the fire was still burning.

The day's clear message was that the camps at Victoria Park were not simply being asked to move; they were being removed before the fence went up and before the protest had accepted that it had any safe place left inside the park.