NSW Police are hopeful a vigil coinciding with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks does not devolve into an unauthorised protest.
The force and protesters came to an agreement on Thursday in the background of a NSW Supreme Court hearing, where police launched a bid to stop protests planned for Sunday and Monday.
Protesters later abandoned plans to hold an official, sanctioned protest on Monday — instead, planning a vigil — and agreed to a new march route to avoid The Great Synagogue on Sunday.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she hoped Monday’s vigil would not spiral into a protest.
“I’m hoping that the [Palestine Action Group] organisers — who [Assistant Police Peter McKenna] has pointed out we’ve worked with for a year now — that we’ve developed a sufficient relationship, that they’ve withdrawn the Form 1, and that their undertaking is that it will be a policeable, small vigil,” Webb told reporters.
“As Mr McKenna has said, though … we would always be concerned that there’d be interlopers, people will come in for the wrong reason.”
McKenna urged pro-Palestinian demonstrators to follow police instructions over the weekend, saying officers would not hesitate to crack down on illegal behaviour.
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“If we see there is public safety issues, if people want to commit a criminal offence or significant anti-social behaviour, that sort of thing, we won’t tolerate that. We won’t hesitate to act,” he said.
Sunday’s march is permitted to go ahead after the Palestine Action Group agreed to conditions, including not displaying insignia associated with terror groups.
While they do not require permission to hold a vigil on Monday, withdrawing their application for a rally means they will not have protection from summary offences such as trespassing.
It means police could potentially move to stop protesters moving through the streets, something McKenna said would be assessed on the day.
There has been no negotiation with the organisers over Monday, he said.
“We’ll have police commanders on the ground. They’ll make an assessment of the situation at the time and decide what is appropriate.”
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