The cities of Sydney and Melbourne witnessed chaotic scenes as pro-Palestine protests spiraled into violence on Monday night. The clashes led to numerous arrests, with participants being pepper-sprayed and police seen in video footage seemingly engaging in physical confrontations.

Peter McKenna, the Assistant Commissioner of New South Wales Police, defended the actions of officers during these events. The protests in Sydney began at Town Hall and moved towards Parliament, and in the ensuing chaos, officers were recorded in various altercations with protestors.

“It’s still early to draw conclusions, but the police were involved in violent confrontations over several hours,” McKenna stated late Monday night. “Judging based on a short video clip might not provide the full picture. I firmly believe the police actions were warranted this evening.”

McKenna also mentioned the possibility of releasing footage from officers’ body-worn cameras to provide further context. Following the night’s events, NSW Police confirmed that 27 individuals had been arrested, including 10 accused of assaulting officers.

These large-scale demonstrations were staged in response to the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who was attending a ‘light and solidarity’ event at the Sydney International Convention Centre during the protests.

The massive protests were against Israel’s visiting president Isaac Herzog, who attended a ‘light and solidarity’ event at the Sydney International Convention Centre while the protests were happening.

In Melbourne about 5,000 people also gathered and marched from Flinders Street Railway Station to State Library, where some continued to Parliament.

Victorian Police confirmed one person was arrested, a 20-year-old woman, after she allegedly burnt two flags, causing minor fire damage to a tram stop near Parliament. She is expected to be charged on summons with wilful damage.

Pro-Palestine protesters in Sydney were pepper-sprayed by police after clashes broke out when they refused to disperse

There were protests in more than a dozen major Australian cities over Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to the country. He attended a ‘light and solidarity’ event on Monday night

NSW Police said 27 people were arrested in Sydney while at least 1 protester was detained in Melbourne

Earlier in the night in Sydney, former Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, spoke outside Town Hall.

‘What a backwards world it is when a so-called democracy silences and surveils academic research, art, music and sports and funds genocide,’ she said.

‘A so-called democracy that punishes peaceful protesters like us but welcomes a war criminal with open arms.

‘What I want you to do after you leave here today is look around you – amongst your colleagues, amongst your friends and your family – and find as many people as you can who have not come to a protest and bring them along next time because we need everyone.

‘We have to continue to mobilise and we have to continue to globalise. Say it with me, from Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada.’

The crowd chanted, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ as Tame spoke.

Just before the protest, organisers Palestine Action Group found out their attempt to overturn a NSW government declaration that Mr Herzog’s visit was a major event had been rejected.

Less than 45 minutes before the protest was due to begin in Sydney, NSW Supreme Court Justice Robertson Wright dismissed the challenge to the NSW government’s declaration.

Footage of the Sydney protest shared by a Greens politician showed police throwing punches towards a group of protesters

There were reports of people throwing up after they were pepper-sprayed 

Thousands march from Town Hall towards Parliament in Sydney

In Melbourne more than 5,000 protesters attended a rally at Flinders St Station

The NSW government passed laws following December’s Bondi Beach terror attack which restricted protections typically granted to authorised protests.

Those temporary powers – which can be extended for up to three months after a terror event – were fortified by the major event declaration announced on Saturday and did not ban the protest but subjected it to tightened restrictions.

Along with Tame, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, First Nations advocate Lizzie Jarrett and Jewish academic Antony Loewenstein spoke to a cheering sea of red, white and green Palestinian flags in Sydney.

‘Israel’s actions endanger all of us, including Jews, because what Israel is doing claims to be in our name,’ Loewenstein said. ‘Believe me when I say, it is not in my name.’

About 500 officers watched on from the perimeter and surrounding rooftops, some with sniper rifles, while helicopters hovered overhead before demanding protesters to move on after the event

In the Melbourne protest, speaker Omar Hassan rallied a sea of demonstrators waving Palestinian flags outside Flinders Street Station, who chanted for the Israeli president to be tried in the International Criminal Court, before they marched through the city.

‘We cannot stay silent while a war criminal tours our country, while this government rolls the red carpet out for someone who has literally signed off on the murder of children, men and women,’ he said.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe decried the federal government’s decision to invite Mr Herzog to Australia as ‘a joke’.

One woman in her 20s was arrested in Melbourne after she allegedly burnt two flags

Grace Tame speaking at the Sydney protest were she told the group to ‘globalise the intifada’

Police were out in force with hundreds of officers on the streets and rooftops of Sydney’s CBD

Mounted police near Town Hall as officers are seen dragging a protester away

The Palestine Action Group had lost its challenge against extra police powers just before the protest got underway

The NSW Police Assistant Commissioner defended the actions of officers

‘If you want us to be respectful, you do not invite anybody to this country who commits genocide,’ she said.

Mr Herzog’s role is largely ceremonial, but he has sparked outrage for being pictured signing an Israeli artillery shell.

After the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 – he described Palestinians as an ‘entire nation out there that is responsible’ – which had been ‘reasonably interpreted as an incitement for genocide’ by a United Nations inquiry.