Police Minister rules out forcing protesters to pay for police resourcing costs as new figures reveal 8465 cops called to rallies

New figures have revealed the huge toll weekly Pro-Palestine protests in Sydney’s CBD is taking on NSW Police resources - but Labor rules out calls for organisers to help foot the bill.

New figures have revealed the huge toll weekly pro-Palestine protests in Sydney’s CBD are taking on NSW Police resources – but the state’s police minister has ruled out calls for organisers to help foot the bill for policing the events.

A total of 8465 officers were deployed to safeguard 17 weekly rallies that were held in the CBD between October and until the end January.

Protest organisers have vowed to continue staging weekly protests until there is an “end to the genocide and occupation of Palestine”.

On Sunday, the Palestine Action Group will hold their 24th consecutive Sunday rally in Hyde Park following smaller protests held this week outside the NSW parliament building and the Egyptian consulate.

Figures detailing the police resources allocated to the protests show 1063 officers were deployed to a single rally in October last year, while a further eight protests had more than 500 police officers in attendance.

Weekly rallies are held in the CBD.

Police resources deployed to protests have involved multiple units including incident management teams, crowd control officers, public order operatives, dog and mounted units and traffic police.

In January, an average of 258 officers were tasked with maintaining the peace at each protest. Figures have yet to be publicly released for police numbers deployed to rallies during February and March.

More than 8000 police have been deployed to the rallies since October.

The level of police resources deployed to the rallies has drawn concern from the police union with fears it is leaving the force stretched at a time when it is grappling with a shortage of officers.

There have also been calls by the state opposition to make protest organisers contribute to the cost of policing under a “user pays” system similar to arrangements for events such as concerts or sporting events.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has told parliament that she has not made any representations to protest organisers regarding contributing to the overall cost of policing the protests.

Rallies are being held in the Sydney CBD on a weekly basis.

It is understood NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has also not made any similar requests.

A spokeswoman for Ms Catley said the government would not support a ‘user pay’ model.

“People have a democratic right to protest in NSW so long as they do it peacefully and lawfully,” she said.

“Our police deal with protests – professionally and expertly – many times every week.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley.

“The priority of police is to provide a safe environment for those attending public gatherings and the wider community. For that they deserve our thanks, not meddling.”

The release of figures comes after NSW Premier Chris Minns previously called on the Federal Government to assist the NSW Government in covering the cost of policing major protests.

NSW Police said in a statement said resources required for attending the protests are funded from internal NSW Police budgets but was unable to calculate an exact accurate cost.

“The policing response is determined by operational requirements and is dependent on a number of factors including the protest location and/or route, and planned number of attendees,” a police spokeswoman said.

NSW Police Association president Kevin Morton has expressed frustration at the level of police resources deployed to protests.

“Burnout is a major concern, with our workforce still managing an intense workload while being significantly understaffed.”

“The (police association has) advocated strongly with the Police Commissioner and the NSW Government to implement a user pays system to alleviate the workload on our under-pressure police.”

NUMBER OF POLICE DEPLOYED TO WEEKLY RALLIES:

29-Oct-23 – 1,063

15-Oct-23 – 1,027

21-Oct-23 – 836

12-Nov-23 – 819

26-Nov-23 – 565

4-Nov-23 – 540

3-Dec-23 – 540

10-Dec-23 – 533

19-Nov-23 – 528

19-Dec-23 – 380

21-Jan-24 – 271

6-Jan-24 – 262

13-Jan-24 – 261

23-Dec-23 – 252

30-Dec-23 – 240

28-Jan-24 – 238

9-Oct-23 – 110