Minns says police ‘put in an impossible situation’
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, appeared on multiple media outlets following the violent clashes between police and protesters in Sydney on Monday evening. Speaking on Channel Nine’s Today program, Minns stated that police were "put in an impossible situation last night":
It’s worth remembering they did everything possible to avoid that confrontation, starting last week when they begged protest organisers to have it in Hyde Park, where it was safe and a march could take place.
I know that some of the scenes on media are short clips, but people have to understand the circumstances where protesters breached police lines and ran amuck in Sydney would have been devastating.
What we can say today what we couldn’t say yesterday is that we had 7,000 Jewish mourners in the same city at the same time, and police had to keep those two groups apart.
When asked about comments from NSW Labor backbencher Sarah Kaine, who described the police response as disproportionate, Minns responded:
No. She’s wrong. I’m not going to throw police under the bus this morning. This is a situation that’s incredibly combustible. And the circumstances that weren’t shown on the news this morning or on TV last night because is what would have happened if protesters breached police lines ...
It would have dangerous … as difficult as the scenes were to watch, it would have been infinitely worse if NSW police didn’t do their job last night.
Stephen Lawrence, a NSW MLC and barrister, expressed concern about the extinguishing of civil liability under the Major Events Act Declaration, also known as the public assembly restriction declaration. This declaration grants police full move-on powers under the Summary Offences Act for offenses such as obstructing traffic.
Anyone that was the victim of a civil wrong, so negligence or any sort of other tortious act from the police last night won’t be able to sue the state. That’s a consequence of the Major Events Act Declaration.
But look, this is another event that will be food for thought, I’m sure, for politicians in terms of do you fundamentally achieve public safety by trying to repress protests, by trying to prevent street processions, by creating a legal regime where there’s no independent arbiter or are in fact those things potentially quite dangerous to community safety?
NSW MP says removal of ability to have peaceful protests has created ‘a pressure cooker’
Stephen Lawrence, who attended the protests but did not march, stated that the state should have facilitated peaceful protest and expressed concern that NSW is heading towards a repeat of the 1978 Mardi Gras events.
I think it rests on this very wrongful and pernicious idea that the Bondi terrorist atrocity was caused by lawful and peaceful protest, is we’ve removed that capacity to have those sorts of processions and protests authorised. This was a pretty much inevitable consequence of that.
I don’t like to be right about a thing like this, but it’s been repeatedly said in Parliament and in different places, we’re basically creating a pressure cooker and we saw that last night.
And look, I condemn any police brutality. Things will have to be determined in terms of what occurred last night.
Police 'had to react', NSW police official says
Peter McKenna, assistant commissioner of NSW police, defended the officers’ actions during the protests, stating they showed restraint for hours before violence erupted. Speaking on ABC Radio Sydney, McKenna said:
Every police officer will have to justify their own actions, there’s no doubt about that.
But what I’ll say is what happened last night was one of the most precarious, volatile situations I have seen. … The level of aggression and violence by the crowd was palpable. ...
Any type of powers were utilized because we kept trying to do it peacefully, until it became violent. As you said, the police had to react.
McKenna added police had attempted to coordinate with protestors for hours. Regarding a video showing officers grabbing and pushing Muslim men praying outside Town Hall, he said:
If their decisions were right wrong or otherwise, I’m not going to sit here and judge them this morning, because I saw what they were up against last night.
Plibersek says voices of Aboriginal women ‘not been heard sufficiently in this debate’
During an interview on ABC News Breakfast, social services minister Tanya Plibersek was asked why Sophie Quinn, who was allegedly shot to death by her former partner in Lake Cargelligo last month, was not given a national mourning day or widely commemorated by politicians. Quinn was seven months pregnant when killed, and her aunt and friend were also victims of violence.
A lot of people would say that the voices of Aboriginal women and communities have “not been heard sufficiently in this debate.”
When we talk about the issues of family, domestic and sexual violence, the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have been talked about less than they should’ve been … the statistics are shocking. An Aboriginal woman is seven times more likely to die in a domestic homicide. 27 times more likely to end up in hospital, 41 more times to end up in hospital if she’s in a rural or remote community. That’s not acceptable.
PM ‘devastated’ by scenes at protests in Sydney and Melbourne
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the clashes during protests against Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit as "devastating" and emphasized that all views should be expressed peacefully. Speaking to Triple M Hobart, Albanese said:
I’m devastated by it. These are scenes that I think shouldn’t be taking place. So people should be able to express their views peacefully, but the police were very clear about the routes that were required if people wanted to march to go a particular route, and for to ensure that this was done peacefully. But the causes are not advanced by these sort of seems, indeed, they’re undermined.
Albanese said the community does not want to see "conflict" brought to Australia and urged people to discuss issues peacefully and with respect.
Minns claims police opposed Town Hall protest for security of Jewish community event
Chris Minns explained that police and government opposition to the protesters marching from Town Hall to parliament was due to the proximity of a Jewish community event at the ICC and the hotel where Israeli president Isaac Herzog was staying.
NSW police were desperate for the protest not to take place there because [Town Hall] is the closest transport link to the ICC, right? ...
The second point here, is that NSW parliament house was within blocks of where the president is staying for his official visit. And if NSW police were to take at face value the protest organiser’s word that they would go to parliament house then not breach police lines, and the rest of Sydney would have been safe, I think that would have been tactically irresponsible in the circumstances ...
Now I realise this looks very easy in hindsight, and the circumstances and the decisions police make are really straightforward, but in the circumstances of a dynamic police situation, they had to make tactical calls to keep people safe.
Palestine Action Group calls for another protest tonight against ‘disgusting police state’
The Palestine Action Group announced plans for another protest on Tuesday night following the violent scenes outside Sydney Town Hall on Monday, where dozens were arrested and police deployed pepper spray.
The group called on Instagram for people to "be there tomorrow to stand up against Minns’ disgusting police state" and to demand all charges against protesters be dropped, as well as accountability for police actions.
The protest is scheduled outside NSW police’s Surry Hills police station, outside the protest restriction zone.
Josh Lees, an organiser for the group, described Monday’s events as the worst he had witnessed at pro-Palestine protests in recent years. He told ABC Radio Sydney:
We should have had the right to march. If police had just facilitated what we called for all along, a peaceful march from Town Hall to either the New South Wales Parliament or Hyde Park, as we were trying to negotiate with police on the night last night, then all of this could have been avoided.
Lees added he believed police “were absolutely off the chain”, saying they “just kept charging” and “pepper spraying everyone”.
Government plan to end violence against First Nations women and children detailed
The government announced a ten-year plan from 2026 to 2036 to address violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, backed by $218 million in funding over four years. The plan aims to establish a national network of up to 40 Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to deliver community-led specialist support services.
Tanya Plibersek outlined the services to include:
- Crisis responses with mobile teams in remote areas to assist families after violent incidents,
- Planning support to help victims safely leave violence and receive ongoing support,
- Community support programs such as playgroups for mothers and children to connect with Elders,
- Behaviour change and education programs targeting men and boys.
[The plan] says that solutions that are locally designed, locally driven, locally staffed, locally delivered are going to make a greatest difference in the remote communities in particular.
First Nations experiences to be included in royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion
Tanya Plibersek spoke to the AM program about the plan and noted that First Nations Australians will be able to make submissions to the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion. Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, is encouraging community participation.
Plibersek highlighted growing racism against First Nations people and stated that the commission’s terms of reference allow consideration of these experiences.
The recent terrorist attack in Perth has led to enormous fear and anxiety, I know, amongst many Aboriginal people and in Aboriginal communities. But this comes on top of years now of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people telling us that racism against them is increasing …
The royal commission terms of reference already allow the commissioner to look at best practices and approaches to de-radicalisation and strengthening social cohesion.
Protest videos ‘very concerning’ says Plibersek
Regarding the protests against Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit, Plibersek acknowledged the visit might be controversial in some quarters, including within the Jewish community in Australia. She urged the community to reflect on the visit’s purpose, echoing Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s remarks that the visit aims to comfort victims and families of the Bondi terror attack.
Plibersek affirmed the right to protest in Australia but noted that protest organisers should have heeded police and court directions about protest locations and routes.
But of course, some of the videos that we’ve seen have been very concerning. And I expect they’ll be investigated.
Labor releases plan to address violence against First Nations women and children
The government’s dedicated ten-year national plan to address violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children was announced, with Tanya Plibersek and Malarndirri McCarthy leading the initiative. This plan follows the broader national plan to end violence for women and children released in 2022.
Plibersek told ABC News Breakfast that the work for this plan has been ongoing and represents an important next step. The plan includes over $200 million in additional funding starting from 1 July, aimed at practical support such as assisting Aboriginal women in domestic violence situations, including in remote communities where logistics are complex.
She emphasized that the plan is a collaborative effort involving the commonwealth, states, and territories, covering policing, justice, child protection, and frontline services.
Police action was 'corporal punishment of peaceful community', Greens say
The Greens party criticized the police response to the Sydney protest, describing it as "summary physical punishment against legitimate and peaceful protest." Sue Higginson, Greens MP and spokesperson for justice, called the police actions "corporal punishment against a peaceful community" and attributed it to the "inflammatory actions" of Chris Minns.
Higginson announced plans to refer the police actions to the law enforcement conduct commission, describing the police response as "wildly inappropriate." She stated:
A lawful and peaceful public assembly was set upon with state violence because arbitrary and excessive special powers were granted to the police, via a rushed regulation made on a Saturday, with no good cause and in defiance our implied constitutional rights to engage in political expression.
I saw with my own eyes something I had hoped to never see, but the video footage that is spreading across social media is all the evidence that any of us need to see the descent of NSW into a police state. We saw people of the Muslim faith who were praying set upon, dragged, assaulted and thrown to the ground. We saw dozens of armed police charging at peaceful members of our community.
Charging horses, chemical weapons, unprovoked assault and severe police violence. These should never be the tools of law enforcement and their presence on Sydney streets must be a wake-up call to all of us.
Police say protest speakers 'incited the crowd to march' before chaos at Sydney protests
Assistant police commissioner Peter McKenna addressed the media after the Sydney rally opposing Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit, accusing speakers at the rally of inciting the crowd to march.
It was really something that was quite inflammatory,he said.
In fact, it got to the point that I believe the crowd really took part in some type of contagion of group think.
McKenna also reported that some officers were assaulted during brawls with protesters.
I had 10 police officers assaulted, and I’m really upset about it,he said.
When asked whether allowing protesters to march would have reduced violence, McKenna responded:
It wasn’t a matter of us letting protesters march. There was legislation in place to say they couldn’t march.
He further stated that videos shared online, including those posted by , were taken "out of context." He explained:
Those officers are in a very vulnerable, precarious position. Then when they have laws to enforce and violence is coming towards them, if that happens over a prolonged, sustained period of time, and then you take 30 seconds here or 30 seconds there of what looks like on its own merits … a violent confrontation.
Well, you’re not judging the whole night … the whole situation of what those officers have just been through.
Police deliver statement on protest arrests
In a press release issued late Monday night, NSW police outlined their actions during the protest:
Thousands of participants gathered at Town Hall and at the conclusion of the speeches, the crowd assembled on George Street indicating an intention to march.
The crowd were issued a number of directions by police to disperse in accordance with the Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD) and Major Events Act.
When participants failed to comply, officers moved to disperse the crowd, including anyone who had stopped and was blocking pedestrian access.
A number of scuffles broke out with 27 people arrested, including 10 for assault police, and are being dealt with by officers.
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