Organisers and opponents of a pro-Palestinan rally in Sydney will have to wait overnight to find out if the NSW Court of Appeal will allow the event to go ahead this weekend.
The Palestine Action Group has planned a march this Sunday — days after the two-year anniversary of the Hamas-Israel war — which will see thousands walk from Sydney's Hyde Park to the Sydney Opera House forecourt.
But NSW Police has challenged the planned protest, saying the Opera House forecourt, which is mostly surrounded by water, is ill-equipped to handle the number of demonstrators organisers expect.
A panel of three judges adjourned on Wednesday afternoon after a lengthy hearing and expert evidence from NSW Police and a Sydney Opera House executive, and are now due to hand down their decision on Thursday morning.
Organisers initially suggested 10,000 people would attend before telling the hearing they now expected 40,000.
But NSW Police dispute both those figures, believing there is a chance the demonstration could attract a much larger crowd, similar to an August march over the Sydney Harbour Bridge that drew an estimated 100,000-250,000 people.
Chief Justice Andrew Bell said it was a "realistic possibility" that "significantly more" than 40,000 people would attend as he compared the estimated figures to August's Sydney Harbour Bridge protests where a crowd between 90,000 and 300,000 people marched through the rain.
He said this was because the Opera House was a "more iconic" site, there was good weather forecast, and the occasion was "historically more potent".
Bell went on to illustrate possible crowd crush scenarios, referring to the Hillsborough stadium tragedy in the United Kingdom in 1989.
Nearly 100 died during a stampede minutes before an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
He said Macquarie Street — a major city route — could turn into a "narrow funnel" where demonstrators are bunched into a tight space.
Assistant Police Commissioner Peter McKenna testified that the march "has disaster written all over it".
But the organisers' barrister, Felicity Graham, told the court previous unticketed events like Vivid were monitored by the Opera House and had been managed capably — and the same could be done on Sunday.
"That information can be relayed effectively live to the police (and it) can be managed in the same way that a light show is managed."
She noted the urgency and timing of the protest was vital in a democracy.
Vanessa Whittaker, barrister for the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, also appeared in court and said the proposed rally would "cause further fear of antisemitism".
Outside court, NSW Premier Chris Minns has backed police, noting a protest outside the waterside venue in October 2023, when an Israeli flag was set alight and some protesters chanted antisemitic slurs.
Palestine Action Group has been organising weekly rallies for two years since Israel's military assault on Gaza began after Hamas' on 7 October 2023.
NSW has a permit system that allows protest participants to block public roads and infrastructure unless a court denies permission after a police challenge.
