NSW police pepper spray protesters at Sydney rally opposing Isaac Herzog’s visit | New South Wales
New South Wales police pepper spray protesters at a rally in Sydney opposing Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit; Here, hundreds of demonstrators tried to march in defiance of state law.
Protesters took to the streets around Australia to oppose Herzog’s four-day visit, which began Monday.
Thousands of people gathered near Sydney City Hall on Monday night, where Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame addressed the crowd. Three NSW Labor members challenged the prime minister to join the protest.
But more than an hour after the protest began, organizers and police held tense talks as demonstrators tried to negotiate with officers and allow protesters to march, despite NSW laws preventing protesters from marching following the Bondi terror attack.
Protesters began beating drums and shouting “let’s march”. As protesters marched, police pepper-sprayed the crowd. As the people in front ran back, coughing and spitting, water poured into the eyes of those who were sprayed.
Thousands of protesters also gathered in Melbourne, where Senator Lidia Thorpe addressed the crowd.
“As I said before, I am against all forms of violence, especially genocide. I am in solidarity.” [with] “The victims in Bondi,” he said, “but I also stand with my Palestinian brothers.”
Albanese invited Herzog after the anti-Semitic attack on December 14 and said the purpose of his visit was to promote a greater sense of unity.
Some called for Herzog’s arrest after a UN commission, which does not speak on behalf of the UN, found that Herzog “incited the genocide commission” along with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
Herzog, the genocide case filed against Israel in the international court of justice “a form of blood libel” and in 2023, he withdrew criticism of his statement that “an entire nation was responsible” for the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Asked what his message was to protesters, Herzog said Monday: “It’s important for me to say that I came here in good faith.
“These demonstrations, in most cases, what you hear and see, are aimed at undermining and delegitimizing our rights, the rights of my nation, the existence of the nation of which I am the head of state.”
