Protester Arrested For Wearing ‘Globalise The Intifada’ Jacket Says She Broke No Laws

There’s been outcry after a protester wearing a jacket with the phrase “globalise the intifada” was arrested in the CBD on Sunday, with the woman alleging police told her the slogan was unlawful.

The 53-year-old woman was arrested at a protest against US military intervention in Venezuela on Sunday evening for “displaying offensive messaging”, and was taken to Day Street police station before being released without charges.

Speaking the The Guardian on the condition of anonymity, the woman said multiple officers approached her at the event and requested she remove her jacket on the basis that it was “unlawful”.

“I said to them, ‘Can you direct me to the specific bit of legislation that outlaws this statement?’” she said. “I knew that it was controversial, obviously, but I knew that wasn’t a reason for me to be arrested.”

The police failed to provide relevant legislation outlawing the phrase.

An Arabic word translating to “shaking off”, intifada is used by Palestinians to refer to the major uprisings that have taken place against Israeli occupation between 1987 and 2005, over which time estimates suggest more than 4,300 Palestinians and 1,1000 Israelis were killed.

The phrase has come under scrutiny in the weeks following the Bondi terror attack, with premier Chris Minns dubbing the words as “hateful, violent rhetoric”, and indicating his support in banning it.

“We’ve got strong advice indicating that phrase … is already in breach of hate speech laws in NSW,” he said last month. “This legislation will put it beyond a shadow of a doubt … Police aren’t mucking around now.”

Intifada “a call to shake off oppression”

Under the current NSW Crimes Act, it is an offence to publicly threaten or incite violence against a person or group on the grounds of ethno-religious origin, although the conduct must incite or threaten violence, rather than offend. A parliamentary inquiry into banning phrases, including “globalise the intifada” is currently ongoing, ahead of new hate speech laws expected later this year.

The woman says she should have never been arrested, and was peacefully objecting the “increasing silencing and breaches of civil rights and our rights to protest”.

President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Timothy Roberts says Minns’ approach to restricting speech is becoming increasingly ideological.

“It is little wonder his rhetoric has contributed to the absurd arrest of a protester calling  for global justice at a rally responding to what we saw happen in Venezuela,” he told City Hub.

“The Police Commissioner is on the record saying the protester was arrested for an offensive slogan. If NSW has a Police Commissioner that thinks a call to shake off oppression is offensive in any language, then we have a problem.”