Labor MPs back investigation into police behaviour at Sydney protest

All four rebel NSW Labor MPs who protested on Monday night have joined the chorus calling for an independent inquiry into the police actions at Town Hall, as the state’s police commissioner insists officers will be held responsible for their conduct.

A protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia descended into chaos when police pushed and pepper-sprayed protesters attempting to march despite restrictions blocking demonstrations in Sydney’s CBD, leading to 27 arrests.

The NSW Labor government introduced laws allowing police to restrict areas for protests after the Bondi terror attack in December, when 15 people were killed on the first night of Hanukkah.

Labor MP Sarah Kaine, who was among four MPs to attend the protest and defy Premier Chris Minns’ advice to avoid the CBD on Monday, has called for an inquiry into police actions but was “agnostic” as to what form it should take.

“Clearly, the events should be investigated,” Kaine said.

Fellow Labor MP Cameron Murphy, who also attended the protest, said the entire situation would have been avoided if the typical Form 1 process were in place.

“Some police clearly used excessive force on Monday and we need to review that, but we also have to look at the broader issues about how we got here. We should also be reviewing the [anti-protest] legislation because it clearly isn’t working,” Murphy said.

“When the independent arbiter, being the Supreme Court, is removed, you are inevitably going to get this type of conflict, and we can see that PAG [Palestine Action Group] protesters and police have abided by decisions of the court in the past.”

Anthony D’Adam, another Labor MP at the rally, said there needed to be an “independent and public” inquiry into the circumstances that led to the chaos, in addition to any investigation by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).

The fourth Labor MP at the protest, Stephen Lawrence, said an inquiry was not a bad idea, “but it shouldn’t just focus on police and protesters”.

“The difficult truth is that political and legal elites actually caused the Town Hall riot,” he said. “A dysfunctional political culture in NSW created possibly the most draconian anti-protest laws in the Western world and an almost inevitable riot, that I openly predicted in parliament late last year.”

The LECC, which is tasked with investigating allegations of police misconduct, received a complaint on Tuesday from Greens MP Sue Higginson. Higginson attended the rally and alleges officers used pepper spray indiscriminately and struck protesters repeatedly.

In one video, a protester is held down by police and punched in his back and sides at least 18 times. The man was charged with assaulting police causing actual bodily harm; police allege he bit an officer and say their actions were necessary.

In another video Muslim men are on the ground, their heads bowed in prayer, when officers move in and physically remove the men. At least one of the men appears to be thrown to the ground.

Higginson called for the LECC to establish an investigation, rather than allow the police to investigate its own conduct.

“We need to see as much evidence as we possibly can – we know the police had drones on the top of buildings, we know that there is a large degree of footage out there,” she said.

“There is body-worn video footage on part of the police. It is now time for the premier to join the call for genuine accountability.”

Minns has on multiple occasions implored the public not to judge the actions of police based on short clips on social media. The premier’s office did not provide any examples of police body-worn vision or any further context of the police’s interactions with protesters when asked by the Herald.

“The police did their job in the face of incredibly difficult circumstances on Monday evening,” Minns said. “As the police commissioner said, there are established and independent processes to review police conduct.”

The call for a LECC investigation was backed by independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich, who said his office had been inundated with footage and written accounts of interactions with police after the rally.

“It is going to be important for an independent oversight body to review that footage and question police on actions taken, and allow the police to contribute and share information about their practices,” he said.

A spokesperson for the LECC told the Herald they could not confirm if an investigation exists, or what complaints may have been received.

The actions of police officers at Town Hall will be reviewed, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told 2GB, pledging individuals would be held responsible for their own actions. Lanyon broadly defended the actions of his officers.

“They were operating in an extreme and dynamic environment. They did what was required to keep the streets safe and to keep the community safe,” Lanyon said.

There is no guarantee that there will be any kind of inquiry, Professor Emeritus Simon Rice of the University of Sydney said. The LECC will have to determine if the complaint made regarding the alleged conduct of officers amounts to serious misconduct in order to decide if an investigation is needed.

“It is wrong that the police have the unaccountable discretion to behave as they choose, and then invoke public safety,” Rice said.

Redfern Legal Centre supervising solicitor Samantha Lee said a public LECC inquiry would result in the best outcome for the community searching for answers, as any finding of a potential crime would be passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Lee said the high legal threshold of serious police misconduct meant the LECC will often refer the matter back to police for an internal investigation.

A decision to hold a public inquiry is a “discretionary decision based on their capacity, resourcing and their own set agenda for the year”, Lee said.

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