Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Sydney. Twenty-seven protesters were arrested at a Town Hall demonstration last night, including 10 for allegedly assaulting officers, as violent clashes erupted between police and demonstrators.
Here’s what you need to know this morning:
- Premier Chris Minns has defended the police response at Town Hall, urging the public not to judge their actions from social media videos that he conceded didn’t “look good”. Minns said police desperately sought to prevent a breach of the containment line at the protest, as Herzog addressed a crowd of Jewish mourners at the nearby International Convention Centre. He feared a “choose your own adventure situation”, where demonstrators could have clashed with mourners on Sydney’s streets.
- Anthony Albanese said he was “devastated” by the violent scenes emerging from the protest, but backed his decision to invite Herzog to Australia. The prime minister is expected to meet Herzog this afternoon, as they remember the lives lost in the Bondi massacre. The PM said the violent clashes at Town Hall “shouldn’t be taking place”, but noted the police were “very clear about the routes required” for a march through the city.
- NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has challenged Minns to sack the four Labor MPs who attended the Town Hall demonstration last night if they are found to have flouted restrictions imposed on the protest. Sloane accused the Labor MPs at the demonstration – Anthony D’Adam, Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Kaine and Cameron Murphy – of “whipping up a frenzy” at Town Hall, accusing them of “ignoring” the legislation designed to ensure peaceful protesting in the state.
- Former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested police who punched protesters yesterday should receive a commendation, and officers at future demonstrations should be armed with tear gas and rubber bullets to safeguard against the “pro-terrorist protests we’ve seen too often”. Abbott called on the four Labor MPs at the demonstration to be suspended from caucus, though he didn’t suggest they should be sacked.
Minns has declared the views of the four Labor MPs who attended Monday’s demonstration irrelevant, finding that unless they generate enough momentum to “knock me off”, it won’t change the government’s terror response.
Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane accused Anthony D’Adam, Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Kaine and Cameron Murphy of “whipping up a frenzy” at Monday’s protest, and challenged Minns to sack the Labor MPs should they be found to have flouted restrictions on the protest.
Minns said it was clear some MPs within his party room didn’t support “large parts” of the government agenda, saying that while that may be “politically inconvenient and perhaps embarrassing”, it won’t change his view on the matter.
“We think the proportionate and reasonable reforms that we’ve brought about are important to keep the public safe and ultimately, unless they are going to get enough numbers to knock me off or change the government’s position, it’s not really relevant,” Minns said at a press conference this morning.
“I’m also not going to pursue an endless loop of sacking people because they don’t agree with the government’s position if they didn’t break the law, if they listen to police instructions.”
Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who suggested police who punched protesters should be commended, called on the four MPs to be suspended from caucus, though he didn’t suggest they should be sacked.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has arrived at the Moriah War Memorial College in Queens Park.
There’s again a heavy police presence, with officers carrying long arm weapons, a helicopter circling overhead and the school’s private security staff stationed outside the gates.
Herzog was escorted by more than a dozen cars carrying other staff and dignitaries including outgoing Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon.
Queens Park Road has been closed to traffic for the duration of Herzog’s visit.
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has promised to review body worn footage and hold all officers involved in last night’s protest clashes “accountable for their actions”, as he continues to back police’s response to an “angry and aggressive group of protesters”.
“As the commissioner, I’m committed to making sure that we review the actions of police, but I can say I am proud of what they did last night in holding the line,” he said.
“At Town Hall, police stood back and enabled that to take place. It was not until the protesters chose to march on police that police had to take any action.”
Lanyon said he was aware of a protest planned at a Sydney police station this evening in response to the police action at Town Hall, signalling a “significant police presence” though hoping the demonstration would remain “calm and peaceful”.
Premier Chris Minns has continued his staunch defence of the police response at the Town Hall demonstration, arguing officers were put in an “impossible situation” as they attempted to keep the protesters away from Jewish mourners gathered at the nearby International Convention Centre.
“It is a difficult, combustible situation, but if the protest organisers had elected to have their rally in Hyde Park [as proposed by police] … then most of this could have been avoided,” Minns told reporters at NSW Parliament.
“We were hopeful for some kind of calm and responsibility. The truth of the matter is, we didn’t get that from many of the protesters last night. We’re going to have to settle for security.”
Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon reiterated Minns’ remarks, finding the conduct was “simply unacceptable” and praised the “remarkable restraint” displayed by officers at the demonstration.
“During the first part of the speeches, it was peaceful,” Lanyon said.
“We were working continuously with the organiser. However, speakers were inciting the crowd to march. We had made it clear throughout the week that a march through the CBD was not acceptable.
“Police did what they needed to do, which was to hold the line and then form and move the protesters back with a view to dispersing them. That was designed to keep the community safe. Having an angry and violent mob marching on police is not a situation that I want our officers in.”
Muslim community leaders have expressed their outrage at police behaviour during the Town Hall protest last night, with a particular focus on an incident involving officers moving on praying Muslims.
Social media footage of the incident shows Muslims kneeling and praying outside Town Hall, when a line of officers proceeded to pull them up and push them away before they were able to complete the ritual.
The incident has sparked wide-ranging condemnation from within the Muslim community, with most major organisations issuing statements criticising how it was handled.
Envoy to Combat Islamophobia Aftab Malik said the people were praying “calmly and quietly” and were not “on a road or footpath…and therefore not subject to a move-on order”.
He called the police behaviour “unprovoked and unacceptable” and said he would be calling NSW Premier Chris Minns “expecting nothing short of a public apology”.
The Islamophobia Register expressed its “absolute outrage and disgust” at the incident, saying the police action was “aggressive, humiliating and discriminatory”.
The Lebanese Muslim Association condemned the premier this morning, calling the incident “police brutality” and demanding an “immediate apology”.
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Sydney. Twenty-seven protesters were arrested at a Town Hall demonstration last night, including 10 for allegedly assaulting officers, as violent clashes erupted between police and demonstrators.
Here’s what you need to know this morning:
- Premier Chris Minns has defended the police response at Town Hall, urging the public not to judge their actions from social media videos that he conceded didn’t “look good”. Minns said police desperately sought to prevent a breach of the containment line at the protest, as Herzog addressed a crowd of Jewish mourners at the nearby International Convention Centre. He feared a “choose your own adventure situation”, where demonstrators could have clashed with mourners on Sydney’s streets.
- Anthony Albanese said he was “devastated” by the violent scenes emerging from the protest, but backed his decision to invite Herzog to Australia. The prime minister is expected to meet Herzog this afternoon, as they remember the lives lost in the Bondi massacre. The PM said the violent clashes at Town Hall “shouldn’t be taking place”, but noted the police were “very clear about the routes required” for a march through the city.
- NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has challenged Minns to sack the four Labor MPs who attended the Town Hall demonstration last night if they are found to have flouted restrictions imposed on the protest. Sloane accused the Labor MPs at the demonstration – Anthony D’Adam, Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Kaine and Cameron Murphy – of “whipping up a frenzy” at Town Hall, accusing them of “ignoring” the legislation designed to ensure peaceful protesting in the state.
- Former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested police who punched protesters yesterday should receive a commendation, and officers at future demonstrations should be armed with tear gas and rubber bullets to safeguard against the “pro-terrorist protests we’ve seen too often”. Abbott called on the four Labor MPs at the demonstration to be suspended from caucus, though he didn’t suggest they should be sacked.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott has suggested police who punched protesters yesterday should receive a commendation, and officers at future demonstrations should be armed with tear gas and rubber bullets to safeguard against the “pro-terrorist protests we’ve seen too often” on Sydney’s streets.
Speaking on 2GB, Abbott praised the “strong” police action taken against demonstrators, and the officers for “retaking control of our streets”.
“My blood has boiled for the last two years to see the way these intimidatory pro-terrorist protests have taken over our city streets, week after week, and I just think that we needed to see a bit of strength from the authorities,” Abbott said.
“As for thoughts that the police who punched a protester who dragged one of their colleagues off a bike, I think those police should be given a quiet commendation, not face an investigation.
“If this continues, I hope we’ll see an absolutely escalated police response. I think we need to see more police forces. I think we need to see tear gas and rubber bullets if need be – these people who are trying to intimidate the Australian community need to know that it is the forces of law and order who are in charge.”
The former PM also called on the Labor MPs at the demonstration – Anthony D’Adam, Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Kaine and Cameron Murphy – to be suspended from caucus, though didn’t suggest they should be sacked.
NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has challenged Minns to sack the four Labor MPs who attended the Town Hall demonstration last night, if they are found to have flouted restrictions imposed on the protest, as she lamented the “incredibly confronting” yet “entirely predictable” scenes.
Sloane accused the Labor MPs at the demonstration – Anthony D’Adam, Stephen Lawrence, Sarah Kaine and Cameron Murphy – of “whipping up a frenzy” at Town Hall, accusing them of “ignoring” the legislation designed to ensure peaceful protesting in the state.
“The premier should hold his team members responsible, and if they have flouted those laws, he should sack those team members,” Sloane told 2GB.
“His own Labor caucus, who defied him, who defied the police and stood at the front of that rally. They are supposed to be lawmakers.”
Sloane cautioned against a planned protest at a Sydney police station this evening, as she railed against the “out of control” scenes on Sydney’s streets. She also expressed sympathy for the officers stationed at the demonstrations, as they “put themselves in the middle of something they knew they could not contain”.
Minns has previously dismissed suggestions the MPs would be sacked, articulating his opposition to their views but finding that, provided their actions didn’t break any laws, a sacking wasn’t justified.
Minns rushed to the defence of officers’ conduct this morning, and urged the public against judging their actions from short videos posted to social media.
He conceded the images posted online didn’t “look good”, but found that the demonstration could’ve turned much uglier if protesters breached the containment line at Town Hall, which he said was attempted on two occasions.
“What’s not shown on the videos because it didn’t happen, is what would have happened if protesters had breached police lines in the middle of Sydney, it would have been chaos, even worse than the scenes that were reported on the news,” Minns said.
Police desperately sought to prevent the containment line from being breached, as Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed a crowd of Jewish mourners at the nearby International Convention Centre while the protest occurred.
Greens senator David Shoebridge has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of inviting clashes between police and protesters in the streets of Sydney, saying his rhetoric had “delivered violence on the street” and encouraged police into altercations with protesters.
“The prime minister can say he supports the right to protest, but he’s part of a political movement that has been demonising protesters, seeking to conflate, falsely conflate, hundreds of thousands, millions of Australians who have been demonstrating against the genocide with the hateful, hateful violence from two violent men whose ideology has no connection with the free Palestine movement,” Shoebridge said in reference to the Bondi shooters.
“We’ve seen Prime Minister Albanese repeatedly attack protesters using words, and now those words have actually delivered violence on the street in the form of police brutality,” Shoebridge claimed.
He said the prime minister needed “to be held account for his words and his demonising of protesters, his appalling political demonising of protesters because his words matter, and his words are part of the reason the police felt able to deliver that level of violence on the streets of Sydney.”
Shoebridge told journalists at Parliament House that Albanese “should apologise to the people of Australia for inviting that conflict onto the streets. He should make it clear in his words and his actions that he condemns the violence being delivered by another Labor leader, [Premier] Chris Minns in Sydney.”
Shoebridge said staff from his office were present at the protest and were “appalled” by what they saw.
“There are images of packs of police charging through the city looking for people to pull to the ground, to tackle, to the ground and to violently arrest. Who created that violence on the streets of Sydney last night? Prime Minister Albanese and Premier Chris Minns.”
Asked on Tuesday morning how he felt to see the images of police and protesters clashing, Albanese said: “Oh, look, I’m devastated by it.
“These are really scenes that I think shouldn’t be taking place. People should be able to express their views peacefully, but the police were very clear about the routes that were required if people wanted to march to go a particular route and for to ensure that this was done peacefully”.
The Lebanese Muslim Association has blasted NSW Police’s forced removal of a group of men praying near pro-Palestine protests in the Sydney CBD as “unacceptable, unjustifiable and un-Australian”.
The group has demanded an apology from NSW Premier Chris Minns and NSW Police after footage of the incident was widely shared on social media last night.
The association, which oversees Lakemba mosque, says worshippers were manhandled and a prominent preacher, Wesam Charkarwi, was forced to end his prayer.
“While NSW Police may attempt to characterise this conduct as crowd control, the reality was the public and forceful suppression of peaceful religious practice,” the association said in a statement.
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