‘Very dark night’: protesters lament violent policing

The use of force by police who beat and pepper-sprayed demonstrators protesting the Israeli president’s visit was proportionate, a state premier insists.

An MP was struck, men were dragged away while peacefully praying and protesters were beaten by officers but a state premier is defending the actions of police.

Demonstrators opposing Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s Australian visit were met with a hulking police presence at Sydney Town Hall on Monday night, with some pepper-sprayed, arrested, beaten and shoved by police.

One video shared on social media shows a group of Muslim men praying before being ripped from their knees and taken away by police.

Another showed a man with raised hands being repeatedly punched in the stomach by officers.

Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia Aftab Malik said the police response included “unprovoked violence and aggression”, describing it as “a very dark night”.

“There cannot be any justification for this demeaning, aggressive and humiliating behaviour,” he said.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the full context needed to be taken into account and defended relations between authorities and the Muslim community.

“NSW Police have had a strong and co-operative relationship with Sydney’s Islamic and Arabic community, going back decades,” he said.

“But context is important and the circumstances facing police were incredibly difficult … it was in effect in the middle of a riot.”

Mr Minns criticised his own MPs who attended the rally and called out some speakers for attempting to march despite police restrictions.

Labor MP Sarah Kaine, who spoke at the rally, rejected any suggestion she had incited violence.

“I don’t think it’s helpful for police or anyone else in high office to be making allegations like that,” she told AAP.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon described the assembly as a “volatile” crowd.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said scuffles were disheartening, but emphasised police had been clear about the rally’s limits.

Greens MP Abigail Boyd said her assault by three police officers near a group of people in prayer dispelled notions the response was proportionate.

“I got this almighty shove from my right and I went flying, lifted off the ground … and then this one copper just punched me as I was trying to get my balance,” she told AAP just hours after returning from hospital.

“I only weigh 60 kilos, I’m only five foot three, I don’t understand why they were attacking me. I’d said I was a member of parliament.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, it was so brutal.”

Police said 27 people were arrested, including 10 for assaulting officers.

Organisers had hoped to march through the Sydney city centre in defiance of police orders.

As the Town Hall demonstration drew to an end, the protesters moved towards an opening in the police cordon, with some trying to leave and others calling on the hundreds of surrounding officers to let them march.

Officers restricted movement along most of the square’s mouth, forcing the large group into a gridlock as protesters’ chants grew louder and the police presence swelled.

Police issued a move-on order but the situation escalated as the densely packed crowd struggled to leave before officers rushed at protesters in an attempt to disperse the group.

Abood, a community worker, said she was assaulted by police on two occasions while trying to aid other rally-goers who were being hit.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 40 years of marching the streets of Sydney,” she said.

Mr Herzog was invited to Australia by the prime minister after the Bondi terror attack.

He has faced scrutiny over 2023 comments which a UN inquiry found might reasonably have been interpreted as inciting genocide against Palestinians.

The president denies that claim and says his comments were taken out of context.

An undeterred Mr Herzog continued his tour on Tuesday, visiting Jewish school Moriah War Memorial College in Sydney’s east.