Opera House Protest Taken To Top Court As Leaders Condemn October 7 Demonstrations

The state’s top court is set to decide whether to grant a probation order for a planned pro-Palestine protest at the Sydney Opera House this weekend, as groups around the country mark two years since the attacks on October 7, 2023.

On Friday afternoon, NSW Police lodged an urgent application in the Supreme Court to obtain a prohibition order, with Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna citing public safety concerns as the reason for police opposition.

The order wouldn’t prohibit the protest, which would remain an authorised public assembly, but would prevent protesters from immunity to criminal sanctions, such as the obstruction of traffic.

On Tuesday morning, Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison ordered that the application be heard in NSW’s top court, the Court of Appeal, tomorrow morning.

“You’d have to live in a vacuum not to be aware of the significant public importance of these proceedings to all members of the community,” he said, and urged that a decision be made “well in advance” of the weekend.

The Court will need to decide whether the immunities in the Summary Offences Act would extend to offences in the Opera House by-laws, which ban on-site public demonstrations.

Spokesperson for organisers, Palestinian Action Group, Josh Lees, said the group would be arguing that it is unconstitutional to ban demonstrations from taking place on the forecourt of the Opera House.

“We’re going to be introducing evidence by Chris Sidoti, who’s a human rights advocate and expert on the UN panel of inquiry that declared that Israel is carrying out a genocide, and he will be introducing evidence into this case that Israel is committing genocide,” Lees said.

“The Crime of Genocide highlights how essential it is that we have to use our right to protest to highlight the plight of the Palestinians, and also why it’s so essential that we’re able to march to iconic landmarks like the Sydney Opera House to send the message that people are demanding that our government end its policy of complicity with this brutal two year genocide.”

PM marks anniversary with speech to Parliament

The ruling comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has discouraged pro-Palestine protesters from rallying to mark October 7, saying it would undermine support for the Palestinian cause in Australia.

“[Tuesday] is not a day for demonstrations,” he said, and called for “decent human behaviour” around the two year anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel, which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 taken hostage.

“There is no place for anyone celebrating terrorism,” he said. “What happened on October 7 was a brutal terrorist attack, and no one should glorify or excuse that kind of violence.”

President of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, told the Sydney Morning Herald that people had a right to mark the occasion.

“To suggest that vigils or protests are ‘inappropriate’ is itself a form of anti-Palestinian racism,” he said. “What’s inappropriate is our government’s silence and complicity, condemning commemoration while ignoring the ongoing genocide in Palestine.”

This afternoon, Albanese spoke to Parliament about the “pain and terror” felt by Jewish people around the world on October 7, 2023, and offered his support for US President Trump’s peace plan.

“Two years on, we remember all those who were lost on that day, the largest loss of Jewish life on any single day since the Holocaust,” he said.

“We stand with all those who endure loss. We stand with all those who endure hope. All who have had to hold this 2-year vigil which must feel like an eternity.

“Hamas sought to kill and to terrify. They planned a nightmare of scarcely comprehensible cruelty and made it a reality. The Australian government stands with Jewish people around the world who feel the cold shadow of history’s darkest chapter in any act of anti-Semitism.”