Pro-Palestine protesters planning second rally despite police warnings

Pro-Palestinian activists will defy warnings from NSW Police and protest in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Sunday, as dozens of Australian Muslim groups urge mosques to be illuminated with the colours of the Palestinian flag in a show of solidarity.

It came as the Minns government continued to face fallout from a controversial pro-Palestinian protest at the Sydney Opera House this week, with Police Minister Yasmin Catley forced to deny reports she misled NSW Parliament when she insisted on Thursday she did not tell members of the Jewish community to avoid the CBD ahead of the demonstration.

As the NSW Labor government maintains its unwavering support for the Jewish community following the attacks on Israel by militant group Hamas, pro-Palestine supporters have vowed to continue rolling “peaceful protests”, relocating their planned Sunday rally from Town Hall to Hyde Park.

Rally organiser Fahad Ali says the protesters have a long, peaceful history with NSW Police.Credit: Nikki Short

The protesters are also planning a march the following weekend. However, one of the rally’s organisers, Fahad Ali, said police had told him that all future applications for unauthorised protests would be rejected after the events of Monday night, where some activists lit flares and chanted antisemitic comments at the Opera House forecourt.

Catley has faced criticism since the protest, with the opposition demanding she apologise to the Jewish community. Catley was asked in parliament on Thursday whether she told any Jewish community leaders on Monday “that the Jewish community should stay away from the CBD of Sydney”.

“No, I did not,” she responded.

Pro-Palestinian activists have insisted they have the right to continue demonstrations. Ali said peaceful protest was a right Palestinians had exercised for 20 years in Sydney and there would “not be any conflict with police”. “Police know we have always been co-operative,” he said.

Ali condemned the actions of protesters on Monday night, saying “the antisemitic comments were from a small group of provocateurs” who did not represent the broader Palestinian community.

Acting NSW Police Commissioner David Hudson has discouraged people from attending the planned event on Sunday. However, he noted police could not stop people gathering in public places.

From next Friday, mosques will also be lit in the colours of the Palestinian flag – green, red and black – or fly Free Palestine banners, amid anger at what more than 50 Australian Muslim groups say is a one-sided response to the Hamas attack, which left more than 1000 Israelis dead.

There is particular fury at Premier Chris Minns’ decision to project the colours of the Israeli flag onto the Opera House.

Pro-Palestinian protesters march through Sydney on Monday. Activists will defy warnings from NSW Police and rally again in Sydney’s Hyde Park on the weekend.Credit: Louie Douvis

A joint statement by the groups from around the country – including Australian National Imams Council, the Lebanese Muslim Association and the Islamic Council of NSW – foreshadowed a co-ordinated plan to plead Palestine’s case in mosques and Islamic schools, arguing they have suffered dispossession similar to that of Australia’s Indigenous people.

“Australia should be pursuing avenues of peace and restraint when navigating civil conflicts, rather than supporting a decision to light up the Sydney Opera House and Parliament House Canberra with the colours of a colonising, invading, Zionist occupying regime,” the statement said.

Muslim faith leaders have also been urged to devote their Friday prayers to “decades of Israeli oppression”, but the Australian National Imams Council said the prayers should avoid hateful slurs or anything that could create division and “give negative perception of a very just cause”.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told radio station 2GB that protesters who participated in anti-Jewish chants on the steps of the Sydney Opera House forecourt should face deportation.

The decision to light up the Sydney Opera House with the colours of the Israeli flag has angered Muslim groups.Credit: Nine News

“I don’t want people anywhere in the world to think those scenes at the Sydney Opera House represent who we are as a people,” Dutton said.

“If there were people there who were on visas, they should be identified and have their visas cancelled. They should be deported.”

Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said the Muslim organisations could do whatever they wanted on their own property.

“If they think it’s appropriate right now, where in the name of the Palestinian cause, we’ve seen what we’ve seen – which is the ... a slaughter of innocents – if they think it’s time for solidarity rather than self-reflection, that’s their business,” he said.

After News Corp reports claimed Catley had conveyed police advice about the escalating tension in Sydney to Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip, Catley released a statement saying she had not misled parliament while conceding she did relay police concerns.

“I had several conversations with representatives of the Jewish Board of Deputies on Monday afternoon,” she said.

“During these conversations I relayed that police were concerned about the large crowd of demonstrators that was growing, and that it was volatile and there were continuing concerns that the situation could become dangerous.”

Catley also revealed she asked representatives of the Jewish Board of Deputies whether they wanted to go ahead with the lighting of the Opera House sails.

“I did ask representatives of the board if they had concerns about the lighting of the Opera House, but they confirmed to me that notwithstanding the potential for a growing demonstration they were fully supportive of the government’s decision to light up the Opera House,” she said. “As I have said in parliament I apologise for the way this has been handled. The premier has apologised also.”

Meanwhile, a Sydney man has been charged with stalk/intimidate intending fear of physical harm for allegedly threatening four teenagers and telling them to put away an Israeli flag they had displayed on their car.

He was granted bail, on condition that he not attend a rally or protest, or enter 12 eastern suburbs for any reason other than work, including Bellevue Hill, Rose Bay or Vaucluse.

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