A former Greens candidate who suffered a serious injury when police broke up an anti-Israel protest in Sydney last month has been told to be “prepared for the worst”, including the possibility she will never regain vision in her right eye, as she readies for a second round of surgery.
Hannah Thomas, who ran against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Grayndler at the May election, suffered a serious eye injury at a protest early on June 27, when she was arrested alongside four others. The demonstrators gathered outside SEC Plating, a Belmore business they say supplies services for F-35 jets used by the Israeli Defence Forces.
Thomas was charged under an emergency power known as part 6a. Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
The arrests prompted serious concerns among legal experts after video taken at the scene appeared to contradict key claims by police after the protests, and showed officers failing to explain what laws they were relying on to break up the demonstration.
In her first interview since the arrests, Thomas said she has been warned that she will probably never regain full vision following the incident.
“I don’t think there is any chance of it going back to what it was, and I’ve been told very clearly to be prepared for the worst-case scenario, which is full vision loss in the right eye,” she said.
This masthead can also reveal Thomas has been charged using a rarely cited emergency anti-riot power introduced after the 2005 Cronulla riots to deal with “large-scale public disorder” that requires sign-off by senior police.
Court documents reveal that, unlike the four others arrested at the demonstration, Thomas was charged under an emergency power known as part 6a, which requires authorisation by an assistant commissioner or higher.
The extraordinary powers, which police last threatened to invoke after demonstrations at the Sydney Opera House in 2023, give officers the ability to stop and search vehicles, detain people and disperse crowds.
The charge sheet states she is facing one charge of resisting police and a second of refusing to comply with a direction to disperse. The second charge cites those emergency powers.
The legislation governing the powers requires senior police to give a written explanation justifying their use. In a statement, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden said police were reviewing the charges in light of the incident being declared a critical incident investigation.
“I put in place a process to review the charges laid in this matter to ensure the relevant and most appropriate charges are applied. The review is part of normal critical incident protocols,” he said. “As the matter is before the court and subject to a critical incident investigation oversighted by LECC [Law Enforcement Conduct Commission], we are unable to provide further information.”
Court documents show Thomas has been charged under rarely used anti-riot emergency powers.Credit: Max Mason-Hubers
Thomas said she was unable to discuss the protest that led to the injury due to the court case, but revealed she will require a second operation this week and has been warned she will probably never regain full vision.
“In terms of the mental health impact, I don’t know if I’ve even begun processing that, to be honest,” she said.
“At this early stage, I can’t see how my life ever gets back to the same.
“It’s a pretty life-changing event, unfortunately. I think I’m in a great deal of shock that it even happened. I would’ve never thought this would have happened. I don’t want to go into the incident itself, but it’s just not at all an outcome I would’ve expected that day.
“I feel overwhelmed in public … it’s very disorientating and confronting [because of] how different it feels to walk around with one eye covered, how people look at you.”
Premier Chris Minns has repeatedly defended the police over their response to the protest and said businesses were “entitled to run their companies”.
But Thomas defended the right of protesters to “create discomfort for those in power”.
“If protests are only allowed when it’s convenient and tidy for people in power, they lose their power. A phrase I always see is ‘a protest with permission is just a parade’,” she said.
“I think I might lose half my eyesight, but if anything, I’ve doubled my resolve. I think I have complete moral clarity in what we’re doing.”
Police have blamed “interference” from other protesters for Thomas’ injury, despite video footage appearing to show she was pulled to the ground by police after being separated from the crowd.
The documents show police have alleged that Thomas’ injury occurred “due to the interference of multiple other protesters”. They state that during the arrest, two officers were pulling Thomas by her arms as members of the protest group grabbed her by “her torso, shoulders and arms”. A third officer joined in pulling Thomas away from the group, and that “due to the interference of multiple other protesters the accused sustained an injury to her right eye during the struggle”.
However, video footage shows Thomas was pulled to the ground by police after she had been removed from the group.
The footage shows that as she was being led away by officers, Thomas appears to stop before an officer sticks a leg out and they both fall to the ground. The police documents refer to that incident as “an approved take down” made because Thomas, who has said she is five-foot-one and weighs about 45 kilograms, was “resisting police”.
The video shows an officer repeatedly telling Thomas to “get up”. She can be heard responding: “I’m trying.”
When the emergency powers were passed in 2007, then-NSW attorney-general John Hatzistergos told parliament the powers were “intended to be used only in the most extreme circumstances and cannot be used for assemblies that are peaceful”.
Police initially said the arrests were made after demonstrators did not obey a move-on direction for allegedly blocking pedestrian access to the business. A review of video footage at the protest showed that in some cases protesters were arrested after questioning police over what laws they were using to disperse the crowd.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.