Protest curb to stop ‘riot’ over Israel president visit

Extraordinary protest bans are slated to be prolonged as Israeli president Isaac Herzog visits Australia following the Bondi terror attack.

Rallies planned in anticipation of the Israeli president’s visit to Australia will be restricted to prevent any riots from breaking out.

Police will need to protect Isaac Herzog’s entourage and enable Sydneysiders to visit the city centre without being held up by protesters, NSW Premier Chris Minns has warned.

“It’s not going to be straightforward, but you can expect restrictions to be in place,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“A reasonable person will look at the circumstances and say, ‘we just can’t have a riot in Sydney’ … and most people would expect the government and the police to ensure that there is public safety during that period.”

Controversial anti-protest restrictions were granted to NSW Police after 15 people were killed in the Bondi terror attack on December 14.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon can make fortnightly declarations for up to three months after a declared terror event.

Mr Herzog is due to visit Australia on February 8 after an invitation was extended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to show solidarity with the Jewish community following the massacre.

But the contentious visit has been lambasted by pro-Palestine activists and legal groups for his comments suggesting Palestinians bore collective blame for Hamas’s terror attack in Israel on October 7, 2023.

A United Nations Human Rights Council commission of inquiry in September found his statements might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide.

Mr Herzog has denied the claim and said his comments were taken out of context.

Protesters took to the streets of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Sunday to demand the cancellation of the invitation, with activists vowing to make his visit “incredibly uncomfortable”.

Mr Minns said he was not pre-empting Mr Lanyon’s decision to extend the fortnightly protest ban but said there had been ongoing security discussions.

“We’ve got to balance police’s responsibility to keep people safe alongside that desire by many people to have a protest,” he said.

Speaking generally before the announcement, race discrimination commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman said governments had a responsibility to allow for different sections of the community to express themselves freely.

“If you suppress protest supposedly because you’re pursuing social cohesion, you’re actually suppressing a democratic right,” he told AAP.

Although the declaration does not explicitly ban protests, it prevents organisers from gaining authorisation that shields them from arrest for obstructing traffic or pedestrians.

Protesters can also be issued a move-on direction, even if they participate in a static demonstration.

Mr Minns described the limits attached to the protest rules as reasonable in a Western nation.

“Even in liberal democracies, there’s an expectation that you’ll keep public safety…and that might mean keeping groups separated,” he said.

By: Farid Farid/AAP