Lawyers have raised concerns that New South Wales police used heavy-handed tactics when arresting an anti-Isaac Herzog protester this week, after eight tactical officers were sent to their home at 5am and “smashed the door open”.
The 42-year-old was the 26th person to be charged after the protest at Sydney town hall in February against the visiting Israeli president. The police response on the night of the protest is being investigated amid allegations of police brutality.
NSW police released video of the Thursday morning arrest. The person was subsequently charged with hindering or resisting police at the Herzog rally, intimidating police without actual bodily harm, throwing a missile at police without actual bodily harm and using indecent language.
They were granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre local court on 15 April. They must report to the police three times a week and not go within 300 metres of town hall. Their lawyer said the 42-year-old had no prior criminal history.
The arrest video shows eight armed officers wearing helmets, face masks and vests entering the Ashfield home. The police video then cuts to the arrested person being escorted by an officer in plain clothes into a police van.
Their lawyer, Nick Hanna, said in a social media post that the police entered the home while his client was asleep and half naked. He alleged the police “smashed the door open”, and he posted a photo of a damaged door.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email“The main allegations … are that [they] threw a water bottle at an officer and then threatened to assault another officer if he touched [them],” Hanna said on Instagram. “They seized [their] phone and required [them] to provide the passcode.”
Hanna said the arrest showed the situation was “crazy” in NSW, which has introduced increasingly tough anti-protest laws.
“[They] went to a protest against an [alleged] war criminal [and] is not alleged to pose any ongoing danger,” he said.
“I’ve been a criminal lawyer for almost 20 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like what happened today.”
Guardian Australia asked NSW police about Hanna’s allegations, but a spokesperson said the force was unable to provide further details while the case was before the court.
The assistant principal at Redfern Legal Centre, Sam Lee, who is a policing accountability expert, reviewed the arrest footage and stated: “The charges, although serious, do not match the level of policing used.”
“It feels like this very public and extreme use of police powers is being used as a warning to protesters. That warning being ‘don’t mess with us or else’,” Lee said on Friday.
The officers who arrested the protester on Thursday are part of Operation Odin, which is a group of operational support officers. In 2024, the state Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, asked the police minister, Yasmin Catley, what role the officers had.
Catley said their responsibilities include assisting with protests and events with large crowds, supporting local and specialist police, specialist search operations, high-visibility policing and executing search warrants.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, and the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, have defended the police actions at the Herzog rally. Minns said in the days after the 9 February protest that police were placed in an “impossible situation”.
Lanyon said rally speakers had “incited the crowd” and police had initially shown “remarkable restraint” until protesters attempted to march to parliament.
“The police did what they needed to do, which was to hold the line and then fall and move the protesters back with a view to dispersing them. That was designed to keep the community safe.”
