Anybody who wishes to protest the Popes visit must restrict themselves
to using words and pictures the Australian police have already
approved

Greens member of the state parliament, Lee Rhiannon, said the
"draconian" powers were not about managing public safety, noting that
police coped each year with a million New Year's Eve revellers in the
city.

"This is about shutting down protests and quarantining the pope and
visiting Catholics away from messages that World Youth Day authorities
don't approve of," she said.

State Premier Morris Iemma defended the police powers.

"People have the right to protest, they can do so, they can do so
peacefully and lawfully," he said.

The five-day celebration of Catholic youth, ending with the mass which
is expected to draw some 500,000 people, has been billed as a major
boost to the economy of Australia's largest city.

But there has been a stream of grumbles over the event's cost, its
impact on businesses as well as the inconvenience it will cause the
city's residents.