Sydney sandwich-board activist Danny Lim has been released from hospital, after suffering head and facial injuries during a confrontation with police in a CBD shopping centre.
The 78-year-old was left bloodied after officers tried to arrest him when he “failed to comply with a move on order” from the Queen Victoria Building on Tuesday.
Chris Murphy, a lawyer whose firm represents Lim, this morning confirmed the street personality had been released from St Vincent’s Hospital with “a plan in place for ongoing monitoring”.
“Thank you staff at St Vincent’s Darlinghurst for the loving care,” Murphy wrote on social media.
“Thank you to the community for your love and support, hope to get our happy icon back with his smiles and his signs.”
The release comes after Murphy said Lim’s first scan had shown bleeding on the brain and doctors were monitoring him overnight.
Independent review to examine actions of police
An independent review will examine the actions of police during the arrest, which was captured on camera by witnesses.
Confronting footage taken by a bystander shows a limp Lim laying on the floor as the officers handcuff him and sit him up.
The 78-year-old yelled ”let me go” as the two officers grabbed his arms and subsequently tripped him, causing Lim to fall head-first onto the tiled floor.
Police said Lim had failed to comply when he was asked to leave the building by security, and then officers.
“Police will allege the man was subsequently issued with a move on direction by officers and failed to comply,” they said in a statement.
“The man’s arrest was discontinued after he struggled with police and sustained an injury to his cheekbone …
“As inquiries into the incident continue, an independent review has been launched, which will examine the actions of police during the incident.”
Lim was treated at the scene and then taken to St Vincent’s Hospital by paramedics.
Lim has claimed police “smashed me on the concrete floor”.
”I could be dead when they threw me down like that,” he told The Guardian from hospital.
Police are investigating and will review body cameras worn by the officers involved.
Lim was arrested in 2019 for wearing a sign sandwich board sign that said “SMILE CVN’T! WHY CVN’T?”.
He won the battle in court, allowing him to wear the trademarked signs.
Lim previously said after being fined for a similar sign targeting Tony Abbott in 2015, the term became his trademark.
In August 2019, magistrate Jacqueline Milledge ruled in his favour saying “the police action was heavy-handed and unnecessary”.