Supreme Court prohibits Sydney’s Black Lives protest, siding with NSW Police

Sydney’s upcoming Black Lives Matter protest will not go ahead, after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of NSW Police, banning the event.

Sydney’s Black Lives Matter protest will not go ahead after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the NSW Police, prohibiting the event from going forward.

The protest was to be attended by thousands of activists on Tuesday but the announcement this afternoon means attendees will potentially face criminal sanction for blocking traffic or breaching health orders brought in to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The legal team representing the Black Lives Matter activists have reportedly applied for a stay in motion as it prepares to file an appeal later today.

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Barrister Felicity Graham said this will allow the organisers to negotiate with police to move the protest to another venue.

Organisers are prepared to move the event to the Domain behind the NSW Parliament, which authorities have previously said would also be rejected.

Earlier in the week, event organiser Paul Silva, whose uncle David Dungay Jr, an Aboriginal man, died in custody in 2015, said the pandemic was being used as “an excuse to silence us”.

“These protests are being singled out by the NSW police and the government and that’s because they see the support from all different nationalities, people of all different walks of life, and they know our message is definitely getting across,” he told reporters.

Organiser Paul Silva says the health crisis has been used as an excuse to silence the movement. Picture: NCA Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

“They’re trying to silence us while using the pandemic as an excuse, but Westfield shopping centres, pubs and clubs are still chock-a-block. We put in substantial steps to make sure everyone is safe at these protests.

“Personally, I’d say they’re safer than your local pub because they’re conducted outdoors so there’s space for social distancing.

“We hand out hand sanitiser and masks for people that don’t have them.”

Protesters gather for the Black Lives Matter movement outside the Supreme Court in Sydney. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gaye Gerard

A group of Indigenous doctors last week called for Tuesday’s protest to be abandoned, fearing the health consequences of a gathering during the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak is too risky.

In a statement, it said it “unreservedly supports peoples’ right to protest and acknowledges the historic and ongoing role that protest has played in changing laws and practices that have discriminated against Indigenous peoples”.

“From the 1938 Day of Mourning and the Freedom Rides to the Wave Hill Walk Off, the AIDA remembers those who stood up for equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians,” the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association

But it also understands the “historic devastation” of unchecked viral contagions on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, AIDA’s statement read.

“For the sake of our Elders and most vulnerable, AIDA urges people not to attend the Black Lives Matter protest marches in Sydney this weekend until the risks of further spread of COVID-19 can be mitigated.

“We acknowledge the work of Black Lives Matter protest organisers in limiting the spread of COVID-19 in protests held so far, and do not link existing cases of COVID-19 to previous protests.

“Despite this, as doctors we are bound to remind everyone that social distancing is still the best way to prevent the further spread of this potentially deadly new virus.”

A Facebook event for the protest indicates more than 1300 people were planning to attend and another 3300 are interested in going along.

Black Lives Matter protests were held across Australia in early June, in solidarity with demonstrations in the US over the death of African-American man George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer.

The rallies, which attracted tends of thousands of people, also highlighted the issue of Indigenous deaths in custody.