The Palestine Action Group will challenge a New South Wales police decision to block a planned protest march to the Sydney Opera House on 12 October, with the state's supreme court set to have the final say on whether demonstrators receive legal protections.
The group had applied to diverge from its usual weekly rally route and march from Hyde Park to the Opera House forecourt to mark two years since the 7 October attacks and call for an end to the conflict in Gaza. However, police rejected the application on Friday, citing safety concerns including crowd crush due to limited exit points.
Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said the decision was based on public safety, not opposition to protest. “We’re not anti-protest. We facilitate thousands of protests,” he told reporters. The group had submitted a 'form one' notification, which if accepted would protect attendees from potential charges under anti-protest laws.
On Friday, Justice Desmond Fagan heard the matter and set a hearing for Tuesday. He questioned the practicalities of the protest and acknowledged legitimate safety concerns, but urged police to consider the strength of community feeling on the issue. The Palestine Action Group had anticipated 10,000 attendees, but Fagan suggested the crowd could exceed 100,000 given the highly inflamed community sentiment over Gaza.
Amal Naser, a spokesperson for the group, said: “Our rights to protest and to assemble are protected under international and domestic law. We have the right to march, and we will keep on fighting for Palestine.” The group previously won a court battle to march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in August, with an estimated 90,000 to 300,000 people attending.
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties has urged the government to scrap the form one system, which does not exist in Victoria. McKenna defended the system, noting that police decisions to block protests have only gone before the supreme court two or three times this year. The Opera House bylaws allow authorised officers to search bags and request removal of outer clothing for security purposes.
