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 yesterday 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 route of a planned march.
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 that 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 offences such as trespassing.
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, who met faith leaders this week to call for calm ahead of October 7, hit out at the organisers of the protest, accusing them of not representing the communities on behalf of whom they are protesting.
“We’ve had meetings all week with leaders of the Arab community, Lebanese community, the Catholics, the Maronites, as well as Islamic leaders. Those conversations and discussions have been good. They’ve been about lowering the temperature … the problem with the organisers of the protest on the weekend is that they are not from the major Arabic or Islamic communities in Sydney,” he said.
“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.”