Police to ask Supreme Court to ban Opera House protest
The NSW Police Force intends to ask the Supreme Court to ban a protest march to the Sydney Opera House next weekend to mark two years since war began between Hamas and Israel.
Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna questioned an assertion by the march organiser, the Palestinian Action Network activist group, that 10,000 people would attend a march that Jewish leaders have declared as unnecessarily provocative.
“We saw the last time there was [a protest at] an iconic piece of Sydney, the numbers well exceeded that, and that again, is part of my concerns,” he said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“The Opera House has its own engineering requirements, which says that they cannot facilitate the amount of people that [the group] has indicated are likely to attend.”
Giving permission
Large protests in NSW require approval from the police, who are required to grant permission if given enough notice.
On Friday morning about 400 people staged an unauthorised protest at Sydney Town Hall to support the Gaza Sumud Flotilla, a fleet of boats that tried to break Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was among those detained when the boats were stopped by the Israeli navy on Thursday. No one was arrested in Sydney.
The decision to seek a judicial ruling on next Sunday’s proposed protest may reflect concerns in the State Labor government that a large anti-Israeli rally next to one of Australia’s most famous landmarks would attract attention around the world and contribute to what Jewish leaders said is a climate of intimidation generated by previous marches.
They included a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge that attracted some 90,000 people, led by prominent figures such as Julian Assange, on August 3, and an anti-Israel protest at the Opera House two days after the war began in 2023 at which people engaged in anti-Jewish chants.
The Palestine Action Group said the Opera House had “long been a symbol of anti-war protest” that had been tarnished by the state government for “lighting the sails in the colours of Israel’s flag, a genocidal apartheid regime”.
Premier Chris Minns has previously expressed concerns about regular pro-Palestinian protests disrupting central Sydney. Neither he nor Police Minister Yasmin Catley expressed a view about the proposed march Friday morning.
The NSW Board of Jewish Deputies, the main representative body for Jews in the state, opposes the protest as does Liberal leader Sussan Ley.
“They do come from a place of division and hatred, and that is not acceptable, and it certainly isn’t acceptable for the Sydney Opera House to be used as a backdrop for protests,” Ms Ley said.
