Anthony Albanese’s hopes that he could use Isaac Herzog’s visit to normalise genocide and win sympathy for Israel after the Bondi attack have blown up in his face. Instead tens of thousands have taken to the streets nationwide, disgusted at his efforts to embrace the genocidal state which is still murdering Palestinians daily.
At yesterday’s national day of protest Sydney saw the most dramatic scenes, as up to 20,000 protesters attended in defiance of intimidation from police and NSW Premier Chris Minns, who adamantly refused to allow the protest to march.
Minns’ new anti-protest laws ban marches in restricted areas, including at Sydney Town Hall where the rally was held, with police given extra powers to move on protesters under the new laws as well as a “major events” declaration.
But the enormous turnout and determination of protesters saw the crowd defy the anti-protest laws and push to march against brutal police violence. The crowd stood its ground until police forced people from the area—when thousands were able to claim a victory by marching back towards Central station.
This shows the kind of defiance that the movement needs to stop the efforts to silence support for Palestine.
In Melbourne, up to 10,000 blocked the roads outside Flinders Street station. A further protest is planned there for Thursday when Herzog visits Melbourne.
Chants of “From the River to the Sea” rang out from the thousands who rallied in Brisbane, a day after Premier David Crisafulli announced he was going to ban the phrase.
There were at least 28 protests nationwide yesterday, in cities from Adelaide to Wagga Wagga, Ballarat, Bathurst and Bunbury.
Sydney defies police
From the platform in Sydney, Grace Tame condemned the way our “so-called democracy silences and surveils academic research, art, music and sports and funds genocide”, before leading the crowd in chants of “Globalise the Intifada”, the slogan Chris Minns and other state premiers want to ban.
Four state Labor MPs defied the Premier to attend the protest, with Labor upper house MP Sarah Kaine addressing the crowd, saying, “We do not welcome a man who incites genocide. We do not welcome a man who signs bombs to drop on children.”
Chants of “Arrest Herzog” and “Herzog to the ICC” (International Criminal Court) rang out through the crowd.
But police were determined to get their revenge. Thousands were blocked from entering Town Hall square or turned away by police. The majority crowded around the entrances, ignoring police directions to move on and instead chanting “let us in”. Hundreds of protesters were eventually let in after over an hour of waiting and chanting.
Police then went on a violent rampage when the huge crowd began to push for a march. Dozens of protesters were punched, violently thrown to the ground and pepper sprayed. Social media has been flooded with footage of thuggish police assaults on the crowd.
Despite police threats, Lizzie Jarrett from the Blak Caucus declared from the stage that an Aboriginal contingent intended to lead a march.
This contingent took the brunt of the first wave of arrests, after police issued move on orders and started snatching people from the crowd.
There was also spontaneous momentum towards police lines from many sections of the crowd determined to defy the anti-protest laws.
One protester, Ali, told Solidarity that, “I was holding a megaphone and police dragged me along the ground. I had five or six cops come up to me. One of them racially abused me and then started punching me on the back of my head.
“They pushed me down on the concrete and handcuffed me. Then they said ‘we’re going to give you a move on’ and released me.”
Protesters stood their ground for at least an hour after police blocked the march, before dozens of police swept through to violently clear the whole area.
There were score of arrests, with 27 actually taken to police stations and charged. A number of protesters were taken to hospital to be checked for head injuries, with one suffering four broken vertebrae. Greens MP Abigail Boyd ended up in a neck brace after being brutally shoved by police.
Crowded space
James Ricketson, a 76-year-old filmmaker, wrote that, “The demonstration was pretty much over when the police, backed up by eight or so fellow officers on horseback, started to aggressively push the crowd south, into an already very crowded space.”
He was held in a police cell for five hours for allegedly assaulting a police officer. They then decided to drop the charges and release him. Afterwards he wrote that, “I can barely walk today and my right kidney hurts very badly as a result of its being punched.”
Police also pushed over and assaulted a group of Muslim men praying inside Town Hall square, who were clearly no threat to anyone, demanding they leave.
It later emerged that police wanted to clear protesters from the city to allow Isaac Herzog and those attending a pro-Israel event at the International Convention Centre further across town to travel through the city.
But as police tried to disperse the crowd, thousands were able to march on the road all the way back to Central station.
The scale of the protests has shown that Albanese’s efforts to push back the movement for Palestine are failing. Over two years of genocide in Gaza has shifted masses of people to support Palestine.
His support for Herzog has disgusted even more, and widened cracks inside Labor. Union contingents showed the potential to build serious support in the union movement.
We need to turn the anger over Herzog into action against the new anti-protest and “hate speech” laws. We need to keep defying all the efforts to crack down on people speaking out for Palestine and continue to turn out in mass numbers to push back the new anti-protest and “hate speech” laws.
The kind of mass, collective defiance we have seen against Herzog’s visit is the best way to do this–and the best way to keep fighting to end the Australian government’s complicity with the genocide and impose the sanctions on Israel that are needed.
