Pro-Palestine organisers have claimed victory in court, after announcing that both a rally on 6 October and a standing vigil on 7 October will go ahead in Sydney after a last-minute agreement with New South Wales police.
NSW police this week launched supreme court action to have both events deemed unlawful, citing concerns over expected crowd size and potential hazards including “planter boxes” at Town Hall.
But after a hearing on Thursday, police and protesters agreed the events could proceed – with alterations.
The protest on 6 October has been allowed after organisers made changes to the route which will now start at Hyde Park. The 7 October event will be a standing vigil, which does not require a so-called “form 1” application that is needed for protests.
Speaking on the steps of the NSW supreme court, Amal Naser of the Palestine Action Group (PAG) said the rally organisers had “got what they wanted”.
Naser said it was “a good moment for democratic rights as well as the fight for Palestinian liberation”.
“We ultimately got everything we wanted,” she said.
“We had a strong case and we were going to win anyway. We’ve reached a good outcome, and it’s what we’ve been saying all along. We have the right to protest, and we need to protest now more than ever.
“The route we are marching is a route we have marched dozens of times before, and it’s a route we are happy with.”
In court, police pointed to the presence of Hezbollah flags at last weekend’s rally, and alleged there had been more “aggressive” protesters, which they said was evidence of the potential risk the rally this weekend posed.
Police also raised issues with the route proposed for the rally, claiming it would bring protesters into close proximity of the Great Synagogue on Elizabeth Street in Sydney.
But Naser claimed outside court that the initial route was one proposed by police on Tuesday and PAG had simply agreed to it. There was no indication during negotiations that police had an issue with it, Naser said.
Police had also initially cited concerns over expected crowd size and potential hazards including “planter boxes” at Town Hall before expanding on those concerns in court.
On Thursday afternoon, organisers told the supreme court they had withdrawn their application for a planned authorised public assembly on Monday. Organisers later clarified they did not need to lodge a form 1 application once they realised it was not required for a standing vigil.
Organisers also agreed to a different route on Sunday which avoids the section of Elizabeth Street the synagogue is on.
The assistant commissioner Peter McKenna earlier told the court the force was concerned there was a “more aggressive feeling” at last weekend’s rally in Sydney after the expansion of the Middle East conflict and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.
“We are concerned there will be a much larger crowd [now],” he said in court. The assistant commissioner alleged Sunday’s rally saw people carrying “prohibited items” – namely Hezbollah flags – and he said police had deployed capsicum spray when surrounded by a group of men. McKenna disputed the person pepper-sprayed was 13 years old.
The police’s barrister, Lachlan Gyles SC, acknowledged that previous rallies held over the past 12 months in Sydney had occurred “in a way that has not been a concern in terms of public order, breaches of the peace and public safety”.
But this week could involve “different types of participants … who could be hostile to the cause and be there to provoke reactions”, he told the court.
Joshua Lees from the Palestine Action Group told the court there had been “a big spike” in protest numbers last Sunday and he expected a similar crowd this weekend. He said a realistic estimate was 5,000 people – but there had been much larger rallies over the past year.
Lees said organisers had urged anyone attending this weekend “not to bring [prohibited] flags or symbols”.
“We don’t want people to get in trouble with the law. We don’t want that at our protests.” Lees said marshals last Sunday had asked anyone with such materials “to put them away”.
The judge on Thursday noted there had been significant “hostilities in the territory of Lebanon from Israel that had caused some exacerbation of tensions and concerns amongst a range of communities in Australia”.
Before the hearing, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said a pro-Palestine event on 7 October – the anniversary of the Hamas attacks in Israel – would be “seen as incredibly provocative”, adding he was “worried about social cohesion”.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said on Thursday that he feared the vigil could turn into a major protest and “that would cause huge harm to social harmony in NSW and it’s reasonable for the government and the police to try to prevent [that]”.
But Naser said these concerns were just attempts at “repressing dissent” and that it was “absolutely ridiculous”.
“There has been ongoing attacks on Palestinian protests since we started this movement last year in October, they’ve attempted to shut down our rallies on numerous occasions.
“They’re obviously very, very terrified that the masses are denouncing this genocide and denouncing Australian complicity in this genocide, and they want to repress all forms of dissent, and it’s … absolutely ridiculous.”
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said on Thursday that 7 October marked one year since the greatest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust and it was not a time for protest.
“It’s a day of grieving and a day of remembrance and should be honoured,” she told reporters.
The federal opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said the weekend protests represented a “celebration of death” and should be stopped.
He accused Labor of “appeasement” for calling for a ceasefire and not more strongly backing Israel’s retaliation against Iran.
