The massive march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge showed the depth of opposition to Israel’s starvation and genocide in Gaza—as well as the Albanese government’s complicity.
For many people it was their first ever protest march.
It was also the best possible response to NSW Premier Chris Minns’ continual attacks on the right to protest. Minns tried to stop the Harbour Bridge march, saying it would cause Sydney to “descend into chaos” and risk public safety.
But the Supreme Court rejected a police application to stop the march. It is clear the wave of support for the protest in the lead up helped sway the court.
In justifying her decision Justice Belinda Rigg said, “The evidence indicates there is significant support for the march.”
There is also a right to march recognised in NSW law, won as a result of the right to protest campaign following the first Mardi Gras in 1978.
A number of previous rulings have said that disruption alone is not a reason to stop a march—since any protest march is by definition disruptive.
Minns has attacked the protests for Palestine ever since 7 October 2023. In the run up to the one-year anniversary of Israel’s genocide last year, he said he would like to ban regular Palestine protests because of the cost of policing.
Earlier this year he passed new anti-protest laws banning protests near places of worship and increasing police powers.
In June a violent police operation saw Greens candidate Hannah Thomas punched in the face, resulting in facial surgery and the possible permanent loss of vision in one eye.
Police appear to have acted unlawfully in dispersing the planned blockade at SEC Plating even before it had begun.
But it was the climate created by Minns’ anti-protest laws that made them feel empowered to act.
The scale of the Harbour Bridge march should give confidence to those who have faced repression for standing up for Palestine everywhere.
It shows how we can push back attacks on the right to protest and win larger numbers of people to join us in active support for Gaza.
