Updated ,first published
The NSW government has invoked special powers related to major events ahead of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia next week, giving police additional powers to separate and move on crowds across the city.
Premier Chris Minns called for calm, respect and co-operation on Saturday, saying it was “really important that there’s no clashes or violence on the streets of Sydney”.
“We can disagree without it resorting to clashes or violence … In fact, that would be devastating for everybody, regardless of your cause,” Minns said at a press conference.
“We reiterate our call that if you don’t need to be in Sydney’s CBD on Monday afternoon, unless it’s absolutely essential, we ask that you not stick around in that area.”
The major events declaration was made by Tourism Minister Stephen Kamper on Friday. The powers extend from Monday to Thursday and cover a “major event area” across Sydney’s CBD and eastern suburbs.
“This is an important visit for our country, and it matters deeply to the Jewish community of NSW as they continue to mourn and recover from the horrific terrorist attack on 14 December,” Minns said in a statement.
“[We] cannot allow a situation where mourners and protesters come into close contact on city streets without strong police presence.”
Police Minister Yasmin Catley noted the state “lost 15 people at the end of last year in the worst terrorist event that this country has ever seen.
“The Israeli president is coming over here to mourn with our Australian Jewish community. We believe that that is the right thing for them to do.”
The area covered by the major event declaration was placed under an additional 14-day protest ban by Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon last week.
Under those arrangements, police may blanket-refuse all applications for protest marches within the area.
On Saturday, Lanyon said he was aware the Palestine Action Group was proposing a rally from Town Hall through the Sydney CBD, in an area unauthorised for a march. He said police had offered to facilitate a march from Hyde Park north through to the south of Sydney.
“We are very keen to ensure a safe and responsible protest,” he said.
Lanyon said the declaration gave police greater powers to “give directions to people to move out of an area”, to restrict people and vehicles from coming into an area, and to search people, but they did not intend to use them “unless we need to”.
In a letter to Lanyon on Friday, more than a dozen state and federal politicians, including NSW Labor upper house MPs Stephen Lawrence and Cameron Murphy and several Greens MPs, expressed support for the planned march from Town Hall to Parliament House.
Groups, including Labor Friends of Palestine, say Herzog’s visit will only inflame tensions in the community.
Herzog was pictured signing a bomb that may have been dropped into Gaza in 2023, and a United Nations commission of inquiry found Herzog and other Israeli officials were “liable to prosecution for incitement to genocide” for comments made after the October 7 attack by Hamas.
Herzog said in an interview with this masthead that he visited an army unit and signed a “smokescreen shell”.
“I don’t even know if it was ever launched. [In] hindsight, a few months later, I said that it may have been something that was lacking taste. I agree that I may have made an error, but there was no intention,” he said.
The state government said the major event powers would allow police to “maintain separation between different groups, and reduce the risk of confrontation in busy parts of the city.
“These arrangements are not a ban on protests or marches. People retain the right to express their views lawfully,” its statement read.
Under the legislation, police may “limit the number of persons who may enter a major event area” or any part of it, and prohibit “categories of persons” from entering the area.
Penalties for failure to comply include fines of up to $5500 or exclusion from the major event area.
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