New South Wales police plan to use “extraordinary powers” to search protesters without reason and arrest and charge people who refuse to identify themselves at Sunday’s planned pro-Palestinian rally.
The premier, Chris Minns, has backed the police using the powers, saying they were justified given a pro-Palestine rally held on Monday “descended into racism” and “acts of violence” on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
The decision to enact the powers rests with an assistant commissioner or higher-ranked officer. Rally organisers on Friday said they were considering launching legal action to block the move.
The NSW police acting commissioner, David Hudson, said he believed the threshold for using the powers introduced after the 2005 Cronulla riots had been met and he would seek to have them enabled before the rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park.
“These powers are extraordinary – these powers are seldom used,” Hudson said on Friday. “I expect to know by tomorrow whether these powers will be available to us.”
Hudson urged people against attending the planned protest and warned against a repeat of Monday night’s march in which some people chanted antisemitic slurs and let off flares on the steps of the Opera House.
He said the force was getting legal advice over its ability to use the powers, which included provisions to lock the city down.
“Just because they’re available, does not necessarily mean they have to be used and we will not use the full extent of the powers which can lock the city down,” he said.
“We intend to search people that we believe are likely to protest or have shown an interest in protesting, based on the fact that weapons and flares, the experiences of Monday night. We will also be demanding they provide us with their identity. So that they cannot disguise themselves in the crowd … without fear of retribution.”
Hudson said the protest planned for Sunday was “unauthorised” but it would not be against the law to attend.
“It’s not illegal for 100 or 1,000 people or whoever show up on Sunday to meet in Hyde Park,” he said. “It’s the behaviour that they engage in following that, that is of concern to us.”
Addressing the media in a snap press conference on Friday afternoon, the premier said there was a right to protest in NSW but he was concerned the event on Sunday was being organised by the same group behind Monday’s march.
“No one can claim that that ended well,” Minns said.
“We need to learn from the lessons from Monday night. Police will of course be reasonable and proportionate on the weekend.”
Human rights and legal experts have condemned the NSW government’s “escalating” and “disproportionate” rhetoric and response to pro-Palestinian protesters.
A rally co-organiser, Amal Naser, said the powers being considered by the police were an “absolutely draconian” overreach and a “huge violation of democracy”.
“What we have seen in the past week in NSW is a draconian attack on our right to demonstrate in solidarity with the people of Palestine, who are currently facing a genocide in Gaza,” Naser said on Friday.
Naser encouraged people to attend Hyde Park for a “peaceful gathering”.
“There are inherent risks at any protest action, but we’re going to do everything that we can keep our community safe,” she said.
Her co-organiser, Fahad Ali, said the organisers would ensure Sunday’s event was free from what unfolded at the Monday protest.
“I think we can guarantee that there won’t be a repeat of this,” he said. “And the way we have guaranteed this is by making very clear statements about what we expect and what we can do. And we’ve made those condemnations of racism.”
Stephen Blanks, who is from the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, will act as the organising group’s legal adviser if it mounts a supreme court challenge against the police powers.
Blanks told Guardian Australia the police could only lawfully use the powers if there was a “threat of large scale public disorder”, adding that the organisers had not suggested there would be.
Sunday’s gathering was initially planned as a march through the city before police rejected the group’s application on the grounds it was submitted with less than a week’s notice.
Police launched Operation Shield on Wednesday to oversee the police response to the situation in NSW amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza crisis and in response to the chaotic protest on Monday.
The operation head, assistant commissioner Mal Lanyon, said police were working to identify people who may have broken the law at Monday night’s protest.
“We will put those people before the court,” he said on Friday. “It is a warning for anyone to attend the protest on Sunday and commit an offence, we will take action.”
The police minister, Yasmin Catley, warned late on Thursday that the rally was not authorised and “strongly encourage[d]” people not to go.
“If people plan on attending and they want to cause fear, harm, or commit criminal offences, they could face arrest. Police commanders on the ground will be taking this incredibly seriously.”
