Organisers of a planned pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney have vowed to defend legal action brought by NSW Police to stop the rally.
The protest, which is demanding Australia place sanctions against Israel for its continued assault on Gaza and stop exporting F-35 fighter jet components to Israel, is scheduled to take place on Sunday 12 October.
It's set to start at Hyde Park in the CBD — where organisers have been holding weekly rallies for almost two years — and make its way through the city, ending on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House.
On Friday, NSW Police assistant commissioner Peter McKenna said the organisers, Palestine Action Group, had lodged a 'Form 1' permit with the police force to hold a public assembly on that date.
McKenna told reporters he'd since been in discussions with protest organisers and trustees of the Opera House, and had instructed the NSW Office of General Counsel to object to the assembly in the NSW Supreme Court.
Citing public safety concerns for the decision, McKenna said police had suggested alternate routes to organisers, and discussions were ongoing.
The Palestine Action Group dismissed police concerns over public safety and said it would fight the legal bid to stop the protest.
"The extraordinary measures police propose are racist, Islamophobic, and a deliberate attempt to intimidate our movement against genocide into silence," it said in a statement.
"International human rights law guarantees the right to protest, the right to free expression, and the right to political assembly.
"The attempt to restrict our rally violates these rights and sets a dangerous precedent for all movements for justice."
The planned protest date marks just over two years of Israel's ongoing military assault in Gaza, which started after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.
Around 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attack, with more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel's offensive has since killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health ministry, as well as leaving much of the enclave in ruins and creating a humanitarian disaster with grave shortages of food, drinking water and safe shelter.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held in Sydney almost weekly for the past two years. Source: Getty / Lisa Maree Williams
When announcing the protest earlier this week, Palestine Action Group said 7 October marked "two years since Israel launched its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people", which it said had continued to escalate under the "protection" of Australian and other Western governments.
Last month, an inquiry by UN investigators found Israel had committed and was continuing to commit genocide in Gaza. Israel has said it "categorically rejects" accusations of genocide.
McKenna said he understood it was a "significant anniversary for probably both sides", and there were high public emotions surrounding the date.
McKenna insisted NSW Police were not "anti-protest" and had facilitated demonstrations by the Palestine Action Group for two years, but that the Opera House site could not accommodate the number of people that protest organisers had indicated would attend.
In August, NSW Police sought to block a pro-Palestinian march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but it was rejected by the NSW Supreme Court.
When announcing the protest earlier this week, Palestine Action Group referenced the significance of using the Opera House for the planned rally this month.
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside the Sydney Opera House in October 2023. Source: AAP / Dean Lewins
The group said the NSW government had "tarnished" that legacy by lighting the sails in the colours of Israel's flag a few days after the October 7 attack in 2023.
The Opera House was also the site of a pro-Palestine protest shortly after the October 7 attack.
