The Palestine Action Group has lost its bid in the NSW court of appeal to march to the Sydney Opera House – but with the protest’s endpoint now changed, the demonstration is authorised and will proceed.
Here’s what we know about the plans so far:
Where and when will Sunday’s pro-Palestine march take place?
The march will now run from Hyde Park, south along George Street to Belmore Park. The new route has been agreed to by both Palestine Action Group organisers and New South Wales police.
The march will begin at 1pm on Sunday 12 October.
How many people are expected to march in Sydney?
Palestine Action Group’s new form 1 application – a notice of intention to the police to hold a public assembly – states up to 40,000 people are expected on Sunday.
“Whether they get those numbers or not, we don’t know … but we’ll be ready, regardless of how many people turn up,” NSW’s assistant police commissioner Peter McKenna said on Thursday.
How did Palestine Action Group respond to the ruling?
After the court ruling, Damian Ridgwell from the Palestine Action Group said: “Obviously, the court proceedings did not go our way today, and we won’t be marching to the Opera House, but we know that courts often get things wrong.”
“We’re going to fill George Street with people demanding an end to this genocide, an end to the trade of military hardware and equipment to a country which has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the last two years, tens of thousands of children,” he said.
“We urge everyone to join us on the streets … to fill the city with Palestinian flags to stand for justice and liberation.”
The official death toll in Gaza now exceeds 67,000, although there may be many more dead uncounted in the rubble that covers much of the strip.
How did the police react to the court ruling against the Opera House march?
Assistant commissioner McKenna told reporters: “[It was a] pleasing result for us. It’s good to see that … common sense prevailed on a public safety issue.”
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He added that he was “not a lawyer, I’ll say that the court made their own judgments, the highest court in NSW … and we will adhere to that”.
He said he understood the Palestine Action Group had “come out and said not to go to the Opera House. They’ve come out and said they are working with police and they will adhere to the court ruling. They’ve also openly said that they will now assist with this new march from Hyde Park to Belmore Park”.
McKenna said he did not believe the ruling meant expanded police powers.
How are NSW police planning for Sunday’s march down George Street?
McKenna said the police were expecting large numbers to attend the public assembly from Hyde Park to Belmore Park, but that security would also be in place at the Opera House.
“We are expecting large numbers still to come to that public assembly, we will be able to manage that. If you are coming to the city, there will be a large police presence. So listen to police officers if you need any direction.”
He urged protesters to stay away from Sydney Opera House on Sunday or face “appropriate action”, continuing: “I’ll say to anyone who thinks that they could go to the Opera House still and be a part of any type of demonstration or public assembly, that you will be committing an offence, and appropriate action will be taken by us.”
How did the NSW premier react to the court ruling?
The premier, Chris Minns, said the ruling was the “right decision”, adding that “common sense” had prevailed in his view.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the premier said “anyone who breaches the supreme court decision can expect the full force of the law, and that’s how a civil society should operate”.
“I know it’s easy for everybody to say ‘Oh, we don’t like the decision’, but if it went bad on the weekend and 40,000 or 50,000 people turned up on a narrow peninsula with no turnaround, then everyone would be pointing fingers at police and the government as to what went wrong,” he said.
The premier said he would not light up the Opera House sails in the colours of the Palestinian flag as organisers had called for. Minns such a move would have constituted “the opposite of pulling the community together in these circumstances”.
