Premier hits out at pro-Palestine rally organisers ahead of October 7 ‘vigil’

Premier Chris Minns has warned that protesters attending two planned pro-Palestine demonstrations in Sydney over the long weekend will face an “overwhelming” police presence, saying officers will crack down on any attempt to march through the streets on Monday and hitting out at the rally organisers over their involvement.

Police on Thursday reached an 11th-hour agreement with protest organisers about Sunday’s event in the city’s CBD. Despite senior officers warning the demonstration could be a “tinderbox”, police dropped a Supreme Court bid to block it after the event organisers agreed to alter the planned route.

Premier Chris Minns speaking in Sydney on Friday.Credit: Janie Barrett

But speaking on Friday, Minns stressed that no agreement had been reached over their plans to hold a vigil on Monday, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas invasion of Israel.

Instead, Minns said the organisers had dropped their “Form 1” application to hold an event. It means that while the vigil can proceed those attending would not have protection from summary offences for things such as blocking roads.

Minns warned police would not hesitate to crack down on demonstrators if Monday’s planned vigil attempted to move through the streets or enter “sensitive” parts of Sydney.

“There will be an overwhelming police response,” he said.

The premier met members of the Faith Affairs Council on Wednesday to call for calm ahead of October 7. However, on Friday he faced criticism for hitting out at the organisers of the protest and accusing them of not representing the communities on behalf of whom they are protesting.

Minns said that while his meetings with religious leaders, including from the Islamic faith, had been about “lowering the temperature”, the “problem” with leaders of the Palestine Action Group organising the protests was that “they are not from the major Arabic or Islamic communities in Sydney”.

“The organisers have taken an action in the NSW Supreme Court; it’s their right to do it, but, you know, I don’t think anyone can speak on behalf of an entire group of people,” he said on Friday.

Those comments drew a rebuke from representatives of one of the organisations at Wednesday’s meeting.

Dr Ali Alsamail and Julie Karaki from the Shia Muslim Council of Australia said they had told Minns at the meeting there was “no valid reason” for seeking to block Sunday’s march and said they would encourage their community to attend.

“We also advised the premier that the best way to lower the temperature and defuse tensions was to acknowledge the pain of the Muslim and Arabic communities and acknowledge the huge scale of civilian loss of life and suffering in Palestine and Lebanon,” they said on Friday.

“We support the Palestine Action Group protests and are grateful to the organisers for their great efforts in holding peaceful protests for 51 weeks now. We will be encouraging our communities to attend the protest this weekend in a lawful and peaceful manner.”

Palestine Action Group organiser Amal Naser also hit out at those comments.

“I say this as someone who is in the Muslim community … we actually reject our leadership who are forming backyard deals with the premier,” she said.

Palestine Action Group has criticised the attempt to block them from holding demonstrations in Sydney’s CBD after holding similar gatherings weekly since the Middle East conflict began last October.

But Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said, while police did have a relationship with the organisers, the escalation in hostilities between Israel and Lebanon in the Middle East had led to “heightened emotions” and greater fear of conflict.

“It’s really not our place to say whether that is appropriate or inappropriate. We can only go about what the law tells us. The law tells us that in NSW, people have a democratic right to hold public assemblies. If there is no reason for NSW Police to intervene, then we won’t, but if there is, certainly we’ll be there,” he said.

The NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said while she hoped the demonstrations would go ahead without controversy, officers were “concerned that there’d be interlopers, people will come in, for the wrong reason”.

Sunday’s march is free to proceed, but McKenna said there had been “no negotiation” with demonstrators over Monday’s planned vigil. While the group is free to gather, the lack of authorisation by police will mean they could be charged with summary offences if they attempt to march.

Despite that, one of the rally organisers, Josh Lees, said on Friday organisers still hoped to hold a silent procession through the streets, though insisted he would “certainly not be riotous”. Asked about that plan on Friday, McKenna said police would make “an assessment of the situation at the time”.

Minns has made his personal distaste for Monday’s planned vigil clear, saying he believes it is an inappropriate day for pro-Palestinian activists to meet. He again said he would be attending a vigil for the Jewish community on the same day.

But the organisers also defended the decision to hold an event on October 7, with Naser saying protesters “have a right to mourn”.

There are a number of demonstrations planned outside the city’s CBD on Monday, including one organised by a group associated with extremist Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir at the Lakemba Mosque.

“Firstly, I don’t think it’s appropriate, that’s my personal view. To hold a protest or a rally on a day when people were massacred on the other side of the world is grossly insensitive,” Minns said.

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