The right is to protest peacefully – there’s no place for hate

It began as a peaceful rally in Sydney on Monday against the visit of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog. It ended in violence and chaos. Twenty-seven people were arrested. Nine people have been charged, five of those charges being for allegedly assaulting police.

Officers sprayed capsicum spray into the crowd. Some protesters needed hospital treatment for injuries sustained during scuffles. Police were also injured. Footage shows two officers punching a man who allegedly bites an officer’s finger. A further video posted on social media shows another man repeatedly punched by officers while being pushed to the ground.

About 6000 people, according to police, attended the rally organised by the Palestine Action Group. Nearby, an event was being held where Herzog and thousands from the Jewish community were remembering and mourning the victims of the December 14 Bondi massacre.

NSW police had been deployed to maintain the enforcement of that state’s Public Assembly Restriction Declaration and Major Events Act, which, in this case, meant cordoning protesters to a particular area. Clashes, however, broke out when protesters began trying to march out of the cordoned area. Police held them back by force at various points. What followed were, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other political leaders have acknowledged, confronting, devastating scenes. Protest organisers have accused officers of “sickening police brutality”, while Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said his members were “threatened, jostled and assaulted”.

In contrast in Melbourne, a protest by 5000 people at Flinders Street Station on Monday night was without clashes, though there were reported chants of “From the river to the sea” among the crowd. There was one arrest, after a woman allegedly burnt two flags and caused minor damage to a tram stop. Herzog is due in Melbourne on Thursday, where again he will be greeted with protest.

While federally, and at state level, laws have been enacted to target hate speech and its symbols, the clash of unruly grievance and fresh grief, in this specific context, played out on the streets serves no one. To shout “Globalise the intifada” or “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” (thus negating in some people’s minds Israel’s existence) turns grievance into callous disregard for the grief emanating from December 14. This is a malign thread in contrast to the legitimate protesting of Israel’s conduct in Gaza following Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023.

The correct response for governments here is in the balance. In Queensland, the state has over-reached in its penalties. On Tuesday, legislation was introduced into parliament under which the public display or uttering in public of those phrases will become a criminal offence, earning up to two years’ jail.

In Victoria, Premier Jacinta Allan has described the right to protest as a “very important tenet of our democratic society” but warned that people had a duty to protest without putting others at risk. The state government has moved to curb dangerous behaviour, acting to give police greater powers relating to removal of protesters’ masks and banning “attachment devices” such as ropes, glue and locks, but it has rejected calls for other restrictions such as the introduction of a permit system for protests or banning them.

“What we are doing here in Victoria is taking the advice of the chief commissioner of Victoria Police, and his advice is that protest bans are not required here in Victoria,” Allan said on Tuesday, in the aftermath of Sydney’s protests. “And we have seen that banning protests does not stop protests.”

On the eve of Herzog’s visit, Victoria Police said it respected “the right for people to protest lawfully. However, we expect that they do so peacefully.” On Wednesday police were granted special powers under terrorism legislation in preparation for Herzog’s visit, allowing officers to stop and search vehicles or people in public places, seize items and detain people as a preventative measure. The special powers will apply to areas Herzog intends to visit and are not designed to impact on a planned protest starting at Flinders Street at 5pm. Allan asked anyone “planning to bring hurt, or pain or grief to the streets of Melbourne” to stay home.

The state’s new anti-vilification laws may come into focus. However, last December, Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said police had considered whether “Globalise the intifada” had reached the threshold for the law to be exercised and that it was not “quite at that level”. At some point it could become a test case, he said.

Herzog’s visit, in its extending of solidarity to Australia’s Jewish community, has also shown a strata of bedrock that is a foundation of this country, that is the right to protest, with all its issues and complexities. It behoves those exercising that right to do so peacefully, without hate. Anger (at one country’s actions) and hatred are not the same thread. Hatred has no place on our streets.

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