Australian leaders are urging calm and calling for protests to remain peaceful following clashes in Sydney between police and demonstrators opposing the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Police reported 27 arrests on Monday evening, including 10 individuals charged with assaulting officers, after protesters refused to leave a designated demonstration site in central Sydney and authorities moved to clear a path for pedestrians.
Demonstrators, including an opposition lawmaker, allege police used excessive force against them on Tuesday.
Herzog’s visit to Australia this week came at the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, following a December 14 attack during a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney that left 15 people injured.
The visit has sparked anger among some Australians, who accuse Herzog of complicity in civilian deaths in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel groups organized protests in cities and towns across the country on Monday evening.
Albanese said he was “deeply frustrated” by the violence and urged protesters to express their views peacefully.
“Australians want two things,” Albanese told Triple M radio. “They don’t want this conflict to approach here. And they want the killing to stop, whether it’s by Israelis or Palestinians.”
“These scenes don’t help achieve those goals, they undermine them,” he added.
New South Wales Police reported no serious injuries in a statement.
Herzog visited Moriah College, a Jewish high school in Sydney, on Tuesday, where he addressed the protests.
“I understand that the protesters who curse us and utter the biggest lies and accusations against our nation don’t want to hear this, but I believe that the silent majority of Australians certainly want to hear and get back on track,” Herzog said during a question-and-answer session with First Lady Michal Herzog and students at the school.
“I am here to try and get the relationship back on track, to elevate it and to improve it,” Herzog told the school, adding that this would be the focus of his meetings with Albanese and other political officials in Canberra on Wednesday.
Police Granted Special Powers
Thousands gathered in central Sydney on Monday to protest Herzog’s visit.
Police were authorized to use rarely invoked powers, including directing crowds, restricting access to certain areas, and searching vehicles. A Sydney court on Monday dismissed a legal challenge to those restrictions. Herzog was not present at the protest site.
Television footage showed some protesters attempting to breach barriers while officers forced them back. Some were seen lying on the ground as police attempted to restrain them.
Police deployed pepper spray and tear gas to disperse the crowds.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns defended the police actions, stating that officers were required to make quick decisions in tense and volatile situations, and called for calm.
“I understand there will be criticism of the New South Wales Police, I just want to make it clear that they were in an incredibly tough position,” he said at a press conference.
The “Sydney Palestine Action Group” stated in a release that protesters were unable to leave the area as they were surrounded by police.
“Police began attacking the crowd with horses, indiscriminately spraying pepper spray on the crowd, punching and arresting,” the group said.
Abigail Boyd, an opposition state parliament member for the Greens party, said she was punched by police officers while attempting to leave the location.
“I have significant pain in my arm and shoulder from the punches. I am deeply shocked,” she said at a press conference.
Police Commander Peter McKenna said police actions were justified and that officers had shown restraint.
“Police did what was necessary, which was to hold their lines, and then to organize and move the protesters to disperse them. Having an angry and violent crowd attacking police is not a position we want our officers to be in,” he said.
Josh Lees, a leader of the “Sydney Palestine Action Group,” said supporters would organize a rally outside the city’s police headquarters on Tuesday evening in response to Monday’s clashes.
Herzog stated at the beginning of his visit that he “came here with good intentions.”
He accused the protesters of seeking to “illegitimize” Israel’s right to exist.
A UN independent international fact-finding mission concluded last year that Herzog was responsible for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians – “an entire nation” – were responsible for Hamas’s attack on Israel.
The report was published after a two-year investigation following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, which the report referenced only in passing, without providing details of the attack that ignited the war in Gaza. During the horrific attack, approximately 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel and 251 others were taken hostage.
Israel rejected the fact-finding report “in its entirety,” describing it as “distorted and false” and calling for the dissolution of the UN body.
