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Australia: Thousands Mobilize To Protest Israeli President Visit

Above photo: Jeremy Piper / Reuters.

Police enforced sweeping security restrictions as nationwide demonstrations intensified.

Thousands of anti-genocide demonstrators rallied across Australia on 9 February to protest a visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with large gatherings in central Sydney and further actions planned nationwide.

Police clashes were reported as protests spread beyond Sydney, with thousands rallying in Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, and other cities, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). 

Officers were seen restraining demonstrators in Sydney as crowds chanted slogans opposing Herzog’s visit.

In Sydney, police used pepper spray and clashed with protesters as authorities warned that participants would risk arrest if they joined a march from Sydney Town Hall to the New South Wales Parliament, an area designated as a protected zone during the Israeli president’s visit. 

A Sydney court rejected a legal challenge filed by the Palestine Action Group seeking to overturn the restrictions on the march, allowing authorities to designate large parts of central Sydney as a protected area during Herzog’s stay and to warn demonstrators they could face arrest if they proceeded.

The Israeli president’s first stop was at Bondi Beach, where he attended a memorial for victims of last year’s mass shooting – described by investigators as “ISIS-inspired” – and met with survivors and families. 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged respect for the visit, describing it as undertaken “in goodwill,” while Herzog claimed that the protesters’ aim was to “undermine and delegitimize” what he described as Israel’s “right … of its mere existence.”

In response, protesters and rights groups highlighted the findings of a UN commission that show Herzog has incited genocide against Palestinians through his public rhetoric by holding all people in Gaza responsible for the actions of Hamas.

These statements were cited as evidence in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

Amnesty International Australia said welcoming Herzog undermines accountability, while demonstrators accused Australian leaders of ignoring Palestinian suffering amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Jewish Australian academics and community figures also joined the criticism, urging the government to rescind Herzog’s invitation as protests continued to escalate.

Despite the so-called ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli forces have continued their violations unabated, killing at least 580 Palestinians and injuring over 1,500 others since the agreement was reached in October, according to the strip’s Health Ministry.

Dozens arrested in Australia during violent police crackdown on anti-genocide protests.

A 69-year-old woman was hospitalized with four fractured vertebrae after she was pushed ‘very violently’ and ‘without warning’.

Australian police violently cracked down on anti-genocide protests in Sydney on 9 February, sparked by the visit of the Israeli president, arresting dozens and critically injuring several protesters.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside Surry Hills Police Station in response to the violence, at a rally organized by the Palestine Action Group (PAG), after police sealed off the perimeter of nearby Harmony Park following clashes the previous evening.

As many as 30 protests were planned throughout the country ahead of Herzog’s visit. The largest of them was held outside Sydney Town Hall, where thousands of protestors clashed with police forces, who then violently dispersed the crowd using pepper spray, tear gas, and batons.

Ten police officers were injured in the clashes, with a total of 27 arrests made in Sydney, including 10 people charged with assaulting police and 17 charged with failing to comply with orders to disperse and related offenses.

During the crackdown, a 69-year-old woman, identified as Jann Alhafny, was hospitalized with four fractured vertebrae after a police officer pushed her “very violently” and “without warning” during the protest. 

Speaking from her hospital bed, Alhafny said, “I straight away knew I’d hurt my back,” adding that other protesters were pushed on top of her as she lay on the ground, leaving her fearing a stampede or suffocation, before an officer “grabbed one arm, and he yanked me up on to my feet, like really severely, and that was excruciating.”

New South Wales (NSW) Greens MP Abigail Boyd was also assaulted by police officers despite identifying herself to them as a member of parliament.

Footage from the protests showed police forcibly dispersing a group of Muslims while they were praying in the street, prompting the Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) to issue a statement condemning the conduct as “shocking, deeply disturbing, and entirely unacceptable.”

PAG condemned the police response as “sickening state violence” and “brutal repression” of a peaceful demonstration, adding to sharp criticism over the handling of dissent during Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia.

Protesters also called for the resignation of NSW Premier Chris Minns and demanded all charges against demonstrators be dropped, as chants against the government echoed outside the police station.

The crackdown unfolded as authorities imposed sweeping protest restrictions in Sydney, including police-designated exclusion zones and warnings of arrest for demonstrators attempting to march toward the NSW Parliament, after a court rejected a legal challenge seeking to overturn the measures. 

Herzog claimed the protests sought to “undermine and delegitimize” Israel’s “right … of its mere existence.” 

Protesters and rights groups countered that claim by pointing to findings by a UN commission cited in South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which documented Herzog’s public rhetoric holding Gaza’s population collectively responsible for the actions of the Palestinian resistance.

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