Police called as Greens-led anti-Israel Sydney council protest turns ugly

Police have been called to a Sydney council chambers overnight, forcing the abandonment of the meeting, with councillors escorted out due to safety concerns after Jewish speakers were targeted | WATCH

Police were called to a Sydney council chambers on Tuesday night after a Greens-led pro-Palestine protest turned ugly, forcing the abandonment of the meeting amid safety concerns and the targeting of Jewish speakers, before officers escorted out staff and councillors.

The protest on Tuesday at Sydney’s Inner West Council had been weeks in the making and designed to whip up frenzied support for Greens councillor Dylan Griffiths’s Boycott, Divest, Sanction motion, described previously as a “campaign ploy” before September’s local government elections.

Mr Griffiths had been promoting the rally in the weeks prior and was one of its speakers, while fellow party councillors and candidates also drummed-up support on social media for, and attended, the protest.

It comes after Anthony Albanese’s criticism of the party’s inflammatory rhetoric, and The Australian’s special report, ‘Greens Extremes’ which revealed how its grassroots members had prioritised “revolution” over rates, roads and rubbish.

More than 100 protesters took to the council’s final pre-election meeting in Ashfield, which was adjourned three times due to the partisan crowd, before being abandoned.

The pro-Palestine protest at Inner West Council on Tuesday night, in Sydney. Picture: Supplied

Decked in keffiyehs, speakers – all of whom were allowed to speak by Labor mayor Darcy Byrne, a break in protocol in an olive-branch move – included those behind the Prime Minister’s electorate office picket, and hurled epithets including “baby killers” and “Nazis” toward Labor councillors, and claimed that they were paid “blood money” and had “sold their soul to Zionists”.

The mayor was forced to abandon the five-hour-long meeting about 11pm after the motion, which sought to investigate cutting council’s ties companies or products associated with Israel, was voted down, prompting pro-Palestine chanting of “river to the sea”, shouts of “shame”, and swear words.

Labor’s eight councillors, including the mayor, who voted against the motion were forced to stay in chambers – as were council staff – before the police arrived and escorted them out to their cars, given safety concerns.

One pro-Palestine activist rubbished concerns and the experience of anti-Semitism described by one Jewish resident who spoke against the motion, before she then evoked the mayor’s deceased parents, which drew an emotional call to order by a taken aback Mr Byrne.

The few speakers who spoke against the motion, understood to all be Jewish residents, were booed by members of the gallery and one was called “Ms Netanyahu” for saying that while she supported Palestine she felt a BDS policy would worsen local social cohesion.

Others waved Palestine flags in the faces of Jewish residents speaking while some gallery members made a triangle symbol with their hands, eyewitnesses alleged, which is often associated with Hamas’ inverted triangle symbol.

On Wednesday, Mr Byrne said the actions and behaviour of the gallery, and organising group Inner West 4 Palestine, were “extreme”.

“The intimidating and abusive conduct of this group was unsafe, dangerous and undemocratic,” he said, noting that it was “promoted and attended” by Greens councillors and candidates.

“The harassment and abuse of Jewish citizens who attended the meeting was appalling and completely unacceptable. There is no place for racism or religious vilification of any group in the Inner West.

Police attended the chamber after the meeting was abandoned about 11pm.

“Overrunning the council chamber and preventing democratic decision making from taking place is not a political tactic that should be normalised in Australia.”

It had been the longest public gallery in the history of the council and the disruption meant that almost all items were unable to be dealt with, including the council’s anti-racism strategy.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said the seriousness of the behaviour should not be “downplayed” and that democracy and social cohesion needed to be protected.

“The abuse, harassment and intimidation that non-Green councillors, council staff and Jewish residents were subjected to was beyond appalling, even for a radical movement which continues to plunge new depths,” he said, criticising the Greens’ language and tactics.

“All people of goodwill need to protect our democracy and social cohesion by uniting against (the Greens’) dangerous, divisive and anarchical behaviour.”

But Mr Griffiths accused Labor of “playing up” the public gallery’s behaviour as a “distraction” tactic for voting down the motion, saying that the council “failed to show solidarity with Palestine”.

Councillor Dylan Griffiths.

“I am disappointed that the council would not amend its policy to ensure council rates are not invested in companies that are found to profit from human rights abuses and violations of international law,” he said, pointing to some Jewish speakers who spoke in favour of the motion.

“(Local Labor is distracting) from the fact that it was unable to bring themselves to support a motion that sought to embed a focus on human rights in council’s procurement and investment policies.”

The Greens’ new slate of candidates for September’s election were also involved, pictured seated in the front row as activists hurled abuse at councillors.

ALP insiders have previously said the Greens would routinely stoke tensions, and encourage the targeting of electorate offices and other forums.

“Then they go ‘That’s nothing to do with us, we had no idea’,” one Labor source said.

It was a full-circle moment for the Inner West after Marrickville Council, which now makes up part of the Local Government Area, introduced its own BDS policy in 2011, but later revoked it after uproar.

A NSW Police spokeswoman said officers were called to the council following reports of a group causing a disturbance and confirmed no arrests were made.