Police petition to block George Pell funeral protesters

Police say they have ‘safety concerns’ about the protest scheduled to be held outside George Pell’s requiem mass on Thursday.

Police have applied for the court to block a protest scheduled to be held outside George Pell’s funeral. Picture: Getty Images

Police are seeking a court order to block a protest outside George Pell’s funeral because of “safety concerns”.

Community Action for Rainbow Rights, an LGBT campaign group, had organised a march on Thursday outside St Mary’s Cath­edral where a requiem mass for the former cardinal is due to be held that day.

The protest’s Facebook event page invites “all supporters of LGBTI and women’s rights to join us for a protest” to show they “reject George Pell and everything he stood for”.

The protest is centred around Cardinal Pell’s stances on same-sex marriage and abortion, and his leading role in the Catholic Church during the child sexual abuse scandal.

NSW police are seeking an urgent court order to prevent protesters from marching outside the cathedral.

At the time of writing, the Facebook event for the protest had more than 100 people registered to attend.

“Despite attempted negoti­ations with organisers, safety concerns associated with their proposed assembly cannot be adequately mitigated without amendments to the proposal,” a police spokesman said.

“As such, the commissioner will apply to the NSW Supreme Court to prohibit the assembly.

“The NSW Police Force recognises and supports the rights of individuals and groups to exercise their rights of free speech and peaceful assembly, however the first priority is always the safety of the wider community.”

After it had been revealed police were petitioning the court, event organisers posted on Facebook “We can’t let the police get away with denying us our right to protest this bigot’s funeral!”

This is not the first time the funeral has been mired in controversy. After Cardinal Pell’s death on January 10, the NSW and Victorian governments said they would not host a state ­funeral. Another protest, organised separately but circulated on the Thursday protest’s event page, is to be held on Wednesday at St Mary’s Cath­edral where attendees intend to tie ribbons around the forecourt to “amplify the voices of survivors and victims of child sexual abuse”.