NSW Police has confirmed that following a review, it will now withdraw charges against former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas under a rarely cited emergency anti-riot power. Instead, she will face a more standard charge of failing to comply with a move-on direction along with the existing charge of hindering police.
Thomas was arrested alongside four others after taking part in a pro-Palestinian protest on Friday, 27 June in Belmore.
On Monday, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed Thomas, unlike the four others arrested at the protest outside SEC Plating, had been charged under the emergency powers known as 6A. The laws were passed in 2005 after the Cronulla riots to “assist police to prevent and defuse large-scale public disorder”.
The emergency powers give police the ability to disperse groups, stop and search people or vehicles, and establish roadblocks and prevent people or vehicles from exiting or leaving.
Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden confirmed a process was put in place on Monday, 30 June to review the charges laid, and was part of normal critical incident protocols. Police would seek to withdraw the charge laid using the emergency powers.
“As part of the review an additional charge of refuse/fail to comply with direction under Part 14, section 199(1), LEPRA 2002, has been laid today (Monday 7 July 2025). At the next court appearance, police will seek to withdraw the alternative charge under section 87ma(4),” he said in a statement provided to PEDESTRIAN.TV.
“As the matter is before the court and subject to a critical incident investigation oversighted by Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), we are unable to provide further information.”
On Monday, Greens MP Sue Higginson made a formal complaint to the LCCC, alleging misconduct by police officers involved in the arrests in Belmore, and the invocation of emergency powers in arrest documents.
“The appearance of these emergency powers on the arrest documents for Hannah Thomas is very revealing and deeply concerning, considering that an Assistant Commissioner or above must have authorised their use and that they must have believed that a large-scale public disorder was about to take place,” she said in a statement.
She questioned whether this raised the possibility that officers were “reverse engineering evidence”, if the powers had not been formally invoked.
“At no point over the last 10 days have any of the police, the Premier, or the Minister for Police referred to public disorder, let alone large-scale public disorder. What we have seen instead, is a series of statements from Premier Chris Minns and Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden that are inconsistent with the evidence from the day, evidence clearly shows that police officers acting above the law,” Higginson said.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, pro-Palestine activists are planning another protest at Belmore this Friday evening, with a rally calling for “no cops at protests”.
In her first interview since the arrests, Thomas told the Sydney Morning Herald she will require a second operation this week, as she continues to grapple with the mental health impact of the incident.
“I don’t know if I’ve even begun processing that, to be honest. At this early stage, I can’t see how my life ever gets back to the same,” she said.
“It’s a pretty life-changing event, unfortunately. I think I’m in a great deal of shock that it even happened. I would’ve never thought this would have happened. I don’t want to go into the incident itself, but it’s just not at all an outcome I would’ve expected that day.”
Numerous questions have been raised since the incident regarding the lawfulness of the police response. Peter O’Brien, a principal solicitor for O’Brien Criminal and Civil Solicitors who is representing the people arrested, said he had “grave concerns” over what happened, and claimed recordings and footage demonstrate a “fundamental misunderstanding” of police powers.
NSW Greens’ Higginson has also written to Premier Chris Minns demanding urgent action, including that all charges laid against protesters be withdrawn, and that the state’s “poorly drafted” anti-protest laws be repealed.
Minns has repeatedly defended the police response, stating businesses were “entitled to run their companies”. NSW Police have claimed the protest was “unauthorised” and officers issued a move-on direction to “a group of about 60 protestors” after they allegedly attempted to block access into the business.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Thomas defended protesters’ rights to “create discomfort for those in power”.
“If protests are only allowed when it’s convenient and tidy for people in power, they lose their power. A phrase I always see is ‘a protest with permission is just a parade’,” she said.
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