Ryvchin questions timing of protest prayer at Town Hall
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin has suggested that a group of Muslims performing sunset prayers during last week’s chaotic Sydney protest appeared to have carried out an “orchestrated stunt” aimed at inflaming community divisions.
In comments to Sky News today, Ryvchin addressed the February 9 incident in which NSW Police dispersed about a dozen men kneeling in prayer outside Town Hall amid a large demonstration against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia.
Alex Ryvchin speaks at Chabad of Bondi during President Herzog’s visit
Ryvchin stressed that no one should dispute the right to practise faith, describing prayer as a “solemn, personal, deeply private act” that should be conducted at an appropriate time and place.
The broader protest had already been ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court of New South Wales, which dismissed a challenge brought by the Palestine Action Group against the state government’s declaration of the event under major events legislation.
Justice Robertson Wright found that the declaration was valid and aimed at ensuring public safety during President Herzog’s visit, giving police expanded powers to control crowds and direct protesters. The ruling meant participants who failed to comply with police directions risked significant fines.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the incident was “deeply concerning” and stressed that Australia is a country where people are free to practise their religion, but that public safety must remain paramount during volatile demonstrations.
“In an extremely tense environment, which police were doing their best to de-escalate, was it essential to pray in that spot at that time?” he asked. “Could it have been done 10 metres down the road, outside the protest zone and outside the presence of police?”
Muslim prayer near Sydney Town Hall (Facebook)
He continued: “It looks very much like an orchestrated stunt to create animosity and drive further division in the community.”
While acknowledging the sacred nature of the right to prayer, Ryvchin argued the circumstances made the episode “something different”. He emphasised that “no rights are unlimited” and that no one has the right to pray publicly in an area police are attempting to clear for safety and public order reasons.
“No one has the right to pray in public in an area that police are trying to clear for safety,” he said.
The remarks follow controversy over the police actions, captured in viral footage showing officers grabbing and dragging worshippers mid-prayer. The incident has fuelled broader debate over religious freedoms, protest management and community tensions linked to the Israel–Palestine conflict.
Absolutely. I agree with Alex Ryychin’s comments. I think it can safely be said that those praying would not normally pray on the steps of the town hall. Public space of that kind is entirely inappropriate for such an exercise; they have mosques and even their own homes to use for prayer purposes. That the media, especially the ABC, gave such prominence to the imams afterwards to regale their sense of horror of their ‘sacred space’ being invaded in such a way, shows how media quickly give way to this kind of hoax, and sensationalism, in place of good, circumspect journalism. All of it, as well as the airtime given to interviewing pro-Palestinian demonstrators, deflects from the issue which is President Isaac Herzog sharing precious moments of mourning with the Jewish community, indeed there was hardly any coverage of much of what he said at all. The media, willing collaborators to whip up the frenzy and incite division in our society.