Sydney protests between NSW Police, Palestine Action Group protesters turn violent; Israeli president continues Australia visit; NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna responds
Premier Chris Minns defended the police response at City Hall last night and urged the public not to judge officers’ actions solely on short videos posted on social media.
Minns acknowledged that the footage posted online “doesn’t look good,” but said the demonstration could have become much uglier if protesters breached the containment line at City Hall, which he said had been tried twice.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the mourning Jewish crowd at the nearby International Convention Center during the protest.
“The circumstances that led to the collision are incredibly important. And perhaps even more important than that was the fact that NSW Police and the government did everything possible to prevent a conflict in the middle of Sydney last night,” Minns told Seven’s. Sunrise.
“What isn’t shown in the videos now, because it didn’t happen, is what would have happened if protesters had breached police lines in the middle of Sydney, there would have been chaos, even worse than the scenes reported on the news.”
The Prime Minister also responded to footage of police forcibly attacking a group of Muslim men Praying near City HallHe said it was not possible for NSW Police to “attempt or deliberately provoke conflict along these lines”.
speaking at Nine’s TodayMinns described the demonstration as an “impossible situation” for the officers; because they were fiercely guarding the perimeter at City Hall as Herzog addressed the mourning Jewish crowd.
“At the end of the day, 7,000 mourners of the President of Israel were in the city at the same time,” Minns said.
“It would have been dangerous. As difficult as it was to watch the scenes, it would have been much worse had NSW Police not done their job last night.”
Police detained 27 people at the demonstration, 10 of whom were for attacking police.
