Protest ban extended to stop anti-Israeli visit ‘riot’
Farid Farid |
Controversial curbs on protests will be extended as police vow to spare no resource to ensure rallies against a visiting Israeli president are kept under control.
As nationwide rallies are planned to oppose Isaac Herzog’s official trip, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon cited community safety as his top priority as he extended protest restrictions in Sydney.
He was granted the power to curb moving protests for up to three months after the December 14 Bondi terror attack, when 15 people were shot dead by two Islamic State-inspired gunmen.
“We want to ensure that free speech is enshrined, but we need to make sure that that is balanced by community safety,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“I know that there is significant animosity about president Herzog’s visit – I have to balance that.”
Mr Lanyon said more than 3000 police shifts would be logged to ensure streets were patrolled safely.
Sydney’s eastern suburbs – a heartland for the nation’s Jewish community – remains within the restricted zone because there is still “significant trauma within the community”, but some parts of the city centre are exempt.
Mr Herzog’s contentious four-day Australian tour is due to begin on February 9 following an invitation from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to show solidarity with the Jewish community after the Bondi massacre.
Joined by the World Zionist Organisation chairman Yaakov Hagoel, the Israeli president will meet with senior Jewish leaders and bereaved families of the terror attack, as well as political leaders and media.
The visit was “not only appropriate, but an essential part of the healing process”, the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council said.
Mr Herzog’s visit has been lambasted by pro-Palestine activists over his past comments suggesting Palestinians bore collective blame for Hamas’s terror attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.
Several religious and legal groups have written to the Australian Federal Police and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland asking for a criminal investigation to be launched into his rhetoric, which has been cited in an International Court of Justice case.
Nationwide protests are planned in Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and regional centres.
“A reasonable person will look at the circumstances and say, ‘we just can’t have a riot in Sydney’,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said of the planned rally from Sydney Town Hall.
“Most people would expect the government and the police to ensure that there is public safety during that period.”
But organisers Palestine Action Group encouraged supporters to congregate peacefully and head to parliament in defiance of the premier’s attempt to “silence opposition” and the police restrictions.
“It is completely legal to attend this mass, peaceful gathering in opposition to an ongoing genocide,” the activists said in a statement.
The police commissioner dismissed suggestions he faced political pressure to extend the protest ban, saying the decision was his alone and the Israeli visit was a factor.
“Free speech comes with responsibility, this is a time for calm, this is a time for the community to come together,” Mr Lanyon said.
Although the declaration does not explicitly ban protests, it prevents organisers from gaining authorisation that shields them from arrest for obstructing traffic or pedestrians.
Protesters can also be issued a move-on direction, even if they participate in a static demonstration.
Mr Minns described the limits attached to the protest rules as reasonable in a Western nation.
“Even in liberal democracies, there’s an expectation that you’ll keep public safety … and that might mean keeping groups separated,” he said.
A United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry in September found Mr Herzog’s statements about Gaza might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide.
Mr Herzog has denied the claim and said his comments were taken out of context.
Opposition MP Damien Tudehope questioned the suite of anti-protest measures driven by the government after the Bondi attack, suggesting the underlying motivation was not influenced by mass demonstrations.
“A person who was radicalised in some way thought that it was okay to go to Bondi Beach and start shooting people at a Jewish celebration … that father and son weren’t motivated by protests,” he said.
“They had developed a way of thinking over a long period of time, which thought this was okay to do … this wouldn’t be solved, in many respects, by addressing protest laws.”
AAP
