Hundreds of torchlights shone on the Sydney Opera House as protesters attempted to disrupt the controversial promotion of a multi-million dollar horse race on the icon's sails.
More than a thousand protesters armed with smartphones and torches gathered at the Opera House on Tuesday night in response to the government's decision to project the barrier draw for The Everest onto the icon's shells.
Australian singer Jimmy Barnes was among the protesters and said the projection was "wrong on so many levels".
"This is an Australian treasure... to advertise horse racing on it is degrading to a great place," Barnes told the Australian.
The protest follows Racing NSW's decision earlier in the day to cancel its live barrier draw for Saturday's $13 million race, citing security risks amid ongoing public outrage.
Instead, it conducted the draw in private in the morning and beamed its results - a cryptic display of jockey's colours, numbers and The Everest logo - on the sails in the evening.
The decision to cancel the live draw came hours after broadcaster Alan Jones publicly apologised for his on-air treatment of the Opera House chief executive.
Jones had called for Louise Herron to be sacked during a testy confrontation on Friday after she ruled out allowing words or branding highlighting The Everest to be projected onto the Opera House because "it's not a billboard".
Source: Getty Image
Jones and Premier Gladys Berejiklian have faced an increasingly vocal backlash after she intervened within hours of the interview to allow the horse race to be promoted on the Opera House.
More than 300,000 people have signed a petition protesting the promotion, while the NSW National Trust has questioned whether the move was legal.
Demonstrators are seen protesting against the decision to project the barrier draw results for NSW Racing's multi million dollar race AAP
The petition was delivered to state parliament on Tuesday with independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich vowing to move a motion to try to remove the power of government to overrule Opera House management.
In a letter to the premier on Tuesday, the NSW Heritage Council said it was extremely disappointed with the government's decision and described the projection as "inappropriate".
On Monday National Trust NSW conservation director Graham Quint suggested the move to project advertising onto the Opera House could be illegal, given its commercial nature.
A child holds a placard during a protest against the decision to project the barrier draw results AAP
Mr Quint said the legal exemptions allowing projection onto the sails made clear that they must be "non-commercial occasions of brief duration".
"They've gone with a decision that we think probably is not legal," Mr Quint told AAP.
When asked whether the promotion was legal, a spokesman for NSW Heritage Minister Gabrielle Upton pointed to the same exemptions they had been questioned over.
"The Opera House management has approved exemptions under the Heritage Act to make these types of decisions," the spokesman said.
Mr Quint said the government still hadn't explained how projecting advertising onto the sails adhered to the exemptions.
"The specific exemption for the Opera House says you can't do it if it's commercial," Mr Quint said.
