Image: @stopwaronpalestine / Instagram
A court solidarity protest took place on Friday, October 30, calling for the charges against 18 Herzog rally protesters to be dropped. The protest, organised by Stop the War on Palestine and allies, was held outside the hearing at Downing Centre Court.
Shannen Potter, Vice President of NSW Council of Civil Liberties, spoke at Friday’s rally. She has previously said that “All remaining charges in relation to the protest at Town Hall on 9 February should be immediately dropped.”
Protest participants also demanded that police and the Labor Government release all documents, communications and videos requested by the defence. A raft of internal documents have already been handed over to the lawyers of the protesters, including encrypted messages between officers and the NSW premier, as well as bodycam footage.
The aforementioned 18 Herzog protesters are facing charges related to their participation in the 9 February protest opposing the visit of Israeli president Isaac Herzog. Demonstrators were met with significant police intervention, including the use of pepper spray, physical force, mounted police and dispersal tactics. Protesters have compared the scale of violence to the first Mardi Gras in 1978.
Demand For Police Transparency
The defence is arguing the entire police operation was unlawful. Led by lawyer Nick Hanna and Barrister Felicity Graham, the defence is seeking to subpoena police documents and instructions. In addition, they want overhead drone footage, decisions about the anti-protest regime that covered Herzog’s visit, and communications between police and government Ministers.
Despite court orders for the NSW police to provide documents and materials, this ruling was challenged by police on “public interest immunity” grounds.
Personal Freedoms At Stake In Herzog Protest Legal Battle
Sienna Hopper, a protestor charged at the demonstration, highlighted the personal and professional stakes of the ongoing legal battle.
She stated, ” As a law student, I face great uncertainty about my future as a result of the charges against me, and whether I will be able to practice in the profession I have trained for.”
“If the state can identify, arrest and expose protestors, the public must be able to demand transparency from the police who perpetrated violence against them.”
Expanding on the demand for transparency, NSW Council for Civil Liberties Vice President Shannen Potter added, “NSW Police must stop hiding behind public interest immunity and release relevant material to court, LECC and public scrutiny. This is the only way to restore public trust in the police.“
Potter added that the charges “are a direct result of laws which have since been found to be unconstitutional, and of police escalation on the ground.”
“Protestors that night had the democratic right to assemble and march. People should not be punished because the police chose to take actions to frustrate those rights.”
Political Fallout
The NSW Greens and 43 civil society organisations have previously 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 protest to be dropped.
NSW Premier Chris Minns has defended police actions, stating “we can’t blame the police for doing what we asked them to do.”
Meanwhile, Stop the War on Palestine spokesperson Adam Adelpour condemned the ongoing prosecutions, stating: “Minns’ draconian anti-protest laws were struck down in April… Yet disgracefully 18 people still face charges in relation to the violent, anti-democratic and unconstitutional police operation unleashed by the Premier.“
“The thousands who protest the genocidal Israeli President Herzog stood on the right side of history.”
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