Twenty-five anti-Isaac Herzog protesters to face joint trial in Sydney | Sydney

The 25 people charged after protesting the Israeli president’s visit will face a six-week joint trial in July next year.

The protesters’ issues were heard in Downing central local court on Thursday after their lawyers successfully applied for a joint hearing, arguing there were common legal issues between the cases.

Acting registrar Soly Najm scheduled a one-week pre-trial hearing on March 8, 2027, and a six-week hearing to begin on July 19, 2027.

Felicity Graham, one of nine lawyers appearing on behalf of the protesters, said she expected the first witness called to the court would be police commissioner Mal Lanyon.

The court heard deputy police commissioner Paul Dunstan and Green MPs Sue Higginson and Jenny Leong could also be summoned, and other “ministers and members of parliament” were also being considered.

Criminal charges were filed against 30 people who protested Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia at Sydney town hall in February, and police withdrew charges against one of those protesters last month. The police response on the night of the protest is being investigated by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission over allegations of police brutality.

25 of those accused requested a joint trial, but the police opposed it. Police prosecutor Sergeant Adrian Walsh told the court this would create “significant problems” for witnesses, given that some were common to all 25 cases but a “significant number” concerned individual matters.

Graham led discussions on why a joint hearing should be held for the group. He argued that the cases shared “common legal and factual issues.”

Among these allegations, the court heard, were that the police had unlawfully intervened in the protest because it was an authorized protest.

At the time, the protest was deemed unauthorized by police due to a declaration to restrict public gatherings under legislation passed in the wake of the Bondi terror attack, effectively banning protest marches in certain areas.

This law was struck down by an appeals court in April after it was found unconstitutional following a successful challenge by Blak Caucas and the Palestine Action Group.

Graham argued that the finding meant that the protest was permitted because the protesters had submitted a form (a formal notice of intent to hold a public meeting) to police with the intention of marching from the town hall to Parliament House.

“[The] “The police operation prevented them from exercising this right,” he said.

He said there would also likely be a challenge over the validity of police’s use of the major event declaration, which is typically used at major sporting and cultural events and expands the powers police have for the duration of Herzog’s visit.

Graham also raised potential common arguments among the 25 protesters regarding the admissibility of evidence.

Protesters face a variety of crimes, including assaulting police, resisting arrest and disobeying instructions.