NSW Police Commissioner’s Bid For Secrecy Stalls Investigation Into Herzog Protest

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission’s (LECC) investigation into the alleged police violence at Town Hall during the Herzog protest on 9 February 2026 has been delayed, following an attempt by the NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon to prevent public hearings into the allegations.

Lanyon’s late application cited the welfare and mental health of NSW Police officers, as well as the potential negative impact of public examinations on effective policing, community relations, and “social cohesion”.

While the LECC ruled the public opening and examinations of senior police officers will remain public, the witnesses and people who allege they were assaulted by the police will now have to give their evidence in private.

Critics are now arguing the NSW Police’s attempt to preserve “social cohesion” by privatising an investigation of such high public interest is merely an attempt to protect their ailing reputation and keep NSW citizens in the dark.

“The Police have known for more than six months that there would be public hearings into their conduct at Town Hall, but they waited until just 12 days before hearings were due to begin before trying to derail this critical transparency work by the independent police watchdog,” said Greens MP and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson.

“NSW Police sought to prevent the public opening address, all witness examinations and even the livestreaming of hearings that the LECC determined should be public. This was an attempt to prevent the community from seeing the evidence against Police examined in public,” said Higginson.

“It is deeply disappointing that the outcome of this intervention is that the community members who allege they were assaulted by Police will now give their evidence behind closed doors. The decision means the people who experienced the violence will not have the same opportunity to publicly give their accounts as the senior Police officers responsible for the operation”.

Alleged Police Violence at the Sydney Herzog Protest, 9 February 2026

The alleged police violence on 9 February 2026 occurred during a protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog and resulted in 27 arrests and dozens injured. Demonstrators were met with significant police intervention, including the use of pepper spray, physical force, mounted police and dispersal tactics.

Following a significant number of complaints, the LECC announced that it would investigate, while Lanyon denied all allegations of police violence.

On 1 June 2026, the NSW Greens and 43 civil society organisations signed an open letter to the NSW Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Police and the NSW Police Commissioner calling for all criminal charges arising from the 9 February 2026 protest of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog at Sydney Town Hall to be dropped. Since then, only a few protestors have had their charges dropped.

“The violence against the community happened in full public view, it was filmed by journalists and members of the community, and the footage was seen across the world. For the Police Commissioner to then seek to shut the public out of the independent investigation is a disgrace,” said Higginson.

“The LECC investigation must be allowed to proceed without further obstruction or delay. The people who were subjected to this violence, and the entire NSW community, deserve a full and public account of the failures by police and the violence that they committed”.