Australia police defend actions after violence at protest over Israeli president visit

BBC:

Australian police have defended their actions after violently clashing with protesters during a demonstration against a visit by the Israeli president.

Video emerged of police charging and punching protesters during the rally in Sydney on Monday night, with a state parliament MP among those who said they were injured in the clashes. Police said 27 people were arrested, with nine later charged, and 10 officers assaulted.

Officers showed “remarkable restraint”, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said Tuesday, adding they “did what they needed to do”.

Earlier, rally organisers had failed in their court bid to overturn police powers limiting their right to demonstrate during Isaac Herzog’s visit.

The government invited Herzog to visit Australia after an antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach, saying it would help the Jewish community heal, despite objections from pro-Palestinian groups.

Fifteen people, including a ten-year-old girl, were killed on 14 December after two gunmen shot at crowds at an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

Video footage of the protests outside Sydney’s Town Hall and surrounding areas – police said 6,000 attended while organisers said it was 50,000- appeared to show several physical confrontations between police and protesters, including officers punching protesters and dragging away Muslim men who were praying.

Josh Lees from the Palestine Action Group said the violence at the protest on Monday evening was the “worst” he has seen in recent years.

“We should have had the right to march,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio.

He said “all of this could have been avoided” if the New South Wales (NSW) government had allowed the group to march from Town Hall to either the state parliament or Hyde Park.

NSW introduced restrictions on public protest after December’s shooting, and a few days before Monday’s rally introduced additional “major event” powers effectively giving police authority to shut down areas of the city. The rules allowed demonstrators to gather but forbade them from marching.

Protesters lost a legal bid to overturn the major event powers application just half an hour before the protest.