NSW premier won’t apologise to Muslims after police grab men praying at rally against Isaac Herzog | Bondi beach terror attack

New South Wales premier Chris Minns says he will not apologize to the Muslim community after police disturbed a group of men praying during a protest against visiting Israeli president Isaac Herzog in Sydney.

Muslim groups, including the Lebanese Muslim Association (LMA) and the Australian Federal Council of Imams (Afic), have called on the prime minister and NSW police commissioner Mal Lanyon to issue a public apology.

Lanyon only apologized “for any offense that may have been committed” after police dragged away people praying outside Sydney City Hall on Monday evening.

The sheikh who led the prayers described the police’s behavior as “irrational and aggressive”.

The Australian National Imam Council (Anic) confirmed Lanyon had contacted it to apologize, but the LMA and Afic said they had not been contacted. “Look, I’m not going to,” Minns said Thursday when asked if he would apologize.

“I don’t mean this in a hostile way, but I think the circumstances are important and I truly believe that… the NSW police, their leaders, their regular officers would never disrupt a worship service or individual Australians practicing their religion unless it was in the middle of a riot,” he told reporters.

Anic’s lawyer and senior counsel Bilal Rauf described Lanyon’s apology as “very qualified” and told the ABC it was “not directed at what actually happened”.

Thousands of people from different origins and faith communities gathered on Monday “to express their concerns about the president’s visit and, of course, the genocide that is unfolding in Gaza,” Rauf said.

“They are there to express this peacefully, yet they are faced with a seemingly disproportionate use of force to suppress, restrain and prevent the expression of this opposition,” he said. “This is very disturbing and needs to be looked at.”

Lanyon told the ABC on Thursday he had apologized, “but it needs to be taken in context, what you see is the confronted police advancing to disperse everyone”.

“We [the police] “We currently have an excellent working relationship with the Muslim community,” he said.

The commissioner insisted that the clashes began when police officers began advancing on protesters trying to march to the state parliament, in violation of anti-protest laws enacted after the Bondi beach terrorist attack that killed 15 people during the Chanukah festival.

Lanyon denied any suggestion on ABC radio that police moved to break up the protest because an event Herzog was attending at the nearby International Convention Center (ICC) was ending at the time.

Minns said he had “conducted numerous meetings with members of the Islamic community over the past few days.” The Prime Minister said Muslim social services minister Jihad Dib had called “half of Sydney in the last 48 hours”.

In a post on social media on Tuesday, Dib said he was “deeply saddened” by images showing police disrupting prayers. Dib said he had “direct discussions” with Minns and Lanyon about the incident.

“The scenes were conflicting and should never have happened,” he wrote.

Minns said Dib “said things I don’t agree with,” referring to the post.

“But he is approaching the situation from the perspective of making the situation better and repairing relations,” the prime minister said. Dib has been contacted for comment.

Despite videos showing police punching protesters, the prime minister on Monday night rejected calls – including from members of the government – for an independent investigation into the police response.

Green House top member Sue Higginson referred the police behavior to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this week that videos it verified showed police “violently dispersing people kneeling in prayer.”

He said the state government should “investigate the alleged use of excessive force by police and appropriately discipline or prosecute those responsible.”

“NSW authorities imposing and using unnecessary restrictions on legitimate protests does not improve safety, but opens the door to abuse,” said HRW researcher Annabel Hennessy.

Labor MLC Stephen Lawrence, who attended the rally, said any investigation must also examine the political and legal context.

Lawrence said “major events” powers had been unsuccessfully challenged by Monday’s protest organisers, and the public gathering restriction declaration (Pard) using laws quickly introduced in the wake of Bondi had created a “pressure cooker” for police and protesters.

“This incident appears to me to be the result of legislation and then a declaration by the police commissioner that prevented protest organizers from potentially going to the high court and getting permission to march on parliament,” he told the ABC on Thursday.

“Rather, the laws we passed in late December meant that it was effectively in the hands of the police commissioner. People tended to accept court decisions in a way that they wouldn’t necessarily accept police decisions.”

Asked on ABC if all officers record footage using body-worn cameras, Lanyon said “I’m sure the vast majority do.” However, the commissioner did not undertake to make this public.

“The footage definitely exists; we will review it, it is not normally made public,” Lanyon said.

LMA and Afic were part of a coalition of groups calling for Lanyon’s resignation over the prayer incident. Lanyon’s tenure since his controversial appointment has included the Bondi massacre, the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil, and numerous clashes between police and pro-Palestinian protesters.

Asked Thursday whether Lanyon would resign, Minns said: “No, I’m very grateful that he’s in office.”

“We are all in an incredibly difficult situation … and I think the attitude and leadership he brings to the job as police commissioner is exactly what we need right now.”

Lanyon has been contacted for comment.