NSW Premier defends police response despite rally violence

By Alex Mitchell, Kat Wong and William Ton

NSW Premier Chris Minns is defending a chaotic police operation targeting protesters opposing the Israeli president’s Australia visit, despite conceding confronting images depicting violence “didn’t look good”.

Demonstrators were pepper sprayed, arrested, beaten and shoved by police as they gathered at Sydney Town Hall on Monday evening to protest Isaac Herzog’s arrival in the harbour city earlier that day.

One video shared on social media shows a group of Muslim men leading a prayer before being ripped from their knees and taken away by police, while another showed a man being repeatedly punched in the stomach by officers.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said he would not “throw police under the bus” and argued moving on the Muslim men praying was justified because other protesters had attempted to breach a police line.

“I appreciate the scenes on television didn’t look good, but it would have been far, far worse,” he told Seven’s Sunrise.

“I support police in a very difficult set of circumstances, they were trying to keep the public safe, and the record shows they did everything possible to avoid these confrontations.”

Organisers had hoped to march through the city but a court decision, that upheld the police’s ability to restrict protests, scuppered plans.

As the demonstration drew to an end, the group moved towards the exit, with some trying to leave and others calling on the hundreds of surrounding police to let them march.

Though there was an exit towards the south side of the block where some could trickle out, along most of the square’s mouth, police restricted movement and would not let people march, forcing the large group into a gridlock.

Protesters’ chants soon grew louder and the police presence swelled.

Officers issued a move-on order but many within the immense, densely packed crowd of about 5000 were unclear on directions and the situation quickly devolved. Police on foot and on horseback formed a front and rushed at the protesters as they attempted to disperse the group.

Media, including photographers and those with press passes displayed, were forcibly pushed away from the scene by officers. The streets were lined with medics kneeling over pepper-sprayed protesters, pouring water into their eyes as they sputtered and hacked up phlegm.

Greens MP Sue Higginson, who was at the protest and was spotted negotiating with police about dispersing protesters from the area, claimed police had been “emboldened to be violent”.

“I saw young women being thrown against the wall, Aboriginal people detained and tear gas used indiscriminately,” she said.

“There is no way to describe the actions by the NSW Police other than calling it for what it was – corporal punishment against a peaceful community.”

Police said 27 people were arrested, including 10 for assaulting officers.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said the protesters’ behaviour was outrageous.

“We saw officers being threatened, jostled and assaulted,” he said.

Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees said the authorities’ response amounted to “sickening police brutality”.

“This sickening violence by police last night is exactly a result of the ramping up and up and up of police powers in this state of the crazy authoritarian announcements made by Chris Minns,” he told ABC Radio.

The NSW police union defended its members’ response, saying their actions were proportionate.

Prior to the chaos, the crowd stood peacefully and chanted in between speeches from people such as former Australian of the Year Grace Tame, Jewish academic Antony Loewenstein, and Amnesty International Australia spokesman Mohamed Duar.

Protests across other major Australian cities also drew strong attendance as participants spoke out against Israel’s bombardment and starvation of Gaza – which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians – and decried photos of Mr Herzog signing an artillery shell that would be dropped on the occupied territory.

Mr Herzog was invited to Australia by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after the Bondi mass shooting in mid-December.

He visited the scene of the terror attack on Monday and is set to attend more community events on Tuesday.

Asked by AAP if he had a message to protesters, he claimed the demonstrations “undermine and delegitimise” Israel’s existence.

He previously said Palestinians bore collective blame for Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, before later walking back the remarks.

A United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry in September found the statement might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide.