Nineteen arrested at Port Botany after blocking arrival of Israeli cargo ship
Image: 19 protestors were arrested at a demonstration at Port Botany last night. Nine News
by GRACE JOHNSON
Police arrested 19 people gathered at Port Botany to protest the arrival of an Israeli cargo ship that transports weapons and supplies for the country’s defence force.
The protest, organised by the Palestine Justice Movement and Trade Unionists for Palestine, saw hundreds descend on the port facility on Sunday evening before marching to the main access point on Penrhyn Road.
Footage circulating online has shown protestors waving Palestinian and union flags before clashing with police.
NSW Police have said that the protest was unauthorised and that some in the group failed to obey police direction.
The 19 arrested were taken to Surry Hills Police Station and later charged with obstructing roads or paths, failing to comply with a move on direction, and remaining “near or on [a] major facility causing serious disruption”.
Among the arrestees were Paul Keating, the Branch Secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), Shane Reside, MUA Branch Organiser and other MUA delegates.
They were issued a court attendance notice to appear before Downing Centre local court in early May.
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“Draconian” anti-protest laws
The arrests come after 3 protestors were arrested on Saturday during a peaceful ‘die-in’, allegedly over an incident involving red food dye.
President of NSW Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) Lydia Shelly said, “Policing of protest in NSW is out of control.”
“We cannot have a functioning democracy unless the right to protest is protected.”
She further called on anti-protest laws to be repealed.
In a joint statement released by the groups that organised last night’s protest described the state’s anti-protest laws as “draconian”.
A similar protest at Port Botany in November 2023 also saw violent clashes between police and demonstrators, leading to over 20 protestors being arrested and charged.
The laws threaten up to $22,000 in fines or two years in prison, and strict bail conditions, for those who interfere with or shut down “major economic activity”.
The legislation, hastily written and passed by NSW Parliament in three days in November 2022, targets individuals who block major roads and new tunnels and/or disrupt port operations in major ports such as Newcastle and Port Botany.
More than a year later, in December 2023, the state’s supreme court ruled them constitutionally invalid.
“Now is the time to fight”
Paul Keating from MUA, one of the arrestees, reaffirmed the union’s support for the protests at the port, and the right of the community to protest.
“I say this to the ZIM shipping line – we don’t want you in our ports! And I say this to every global shipping line – declare that you are not moving Israeli owned or made goods, and you will not see these protests in the ports!”
“I say to every union leader in Australia: now is the time to stand up, now is the time to fight,” he continued.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Greens Deputy Leader, also attended the protest last night.
“I stand with the unions and the community determined to use our people power to make Israel pay a cost for its genocide against the Palestinian people,” she said.
“Israeli businesses that choose to align themselves with Israel’s war machine are not welcome here.”
In a call for action, Ahmed Abadla from the Palestine Justice Movement said, “Australia is deeply complicit with the current genocide being committed in Gaza and the Israeli Apartheid, settler-colonialist regime.”
“If the Albanese government will not act to sanction Israel and bring it to a complete halt, then we will do everything in our power to do so. We are calling on all people with a conscience who want to see an immediate end to Israel’s war crimes, Apartheid and horrific genocide to join us.”
Protestors at the event said Albanese had “blood on [his] hands”.
More than 32,000 Palestinians have died in Israel’s retaliatory attacks since Hamas fighters attacked an Israeli music festival on October 7, killing 1,200 people.
There have since been 171 days of “intentional starvation, mass displacement, the destruction of infrastructure and now genocide in Gaza,” as Ms Shelly said.
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