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A planned pro-Palestinian rally at an iconic Australian landmark has been prohibited by NSW’s highest court.
The Palestine Action Group last week announced a plan to march from Hyde Park in the CBD to the Sydney Opera House on Sunday to mark the anniversary of October 7 and protest against the war in Gaza.
NSW Police had challenged the proposed protest in the NSW Court of Appeal, part of the NSW Supreme Court, citing concerns about a potential crowd crush.
Organisers had estimated that the protest could see around 40,000 winding through Sydney’s city centre to the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House.
NSW Police contended that the reported number might be exaggerated, proposing that the actual size of the crowd could well be larger.
Chief justice of NSW Andrew Bell, justice Ian Harrison and justice Stephen Free’s decision does not explicitly ban the protest.
However, organisers and demonstrators won’t be provided immunity from certain offences, such as obstructing traffic, if they go ahead with the rally as planned.
The verdict will also allow police to move on or arrest those in the forecourt.
Free said a protest of that size would have “given rise to a risk of crowd crush”, a unanimous view of the court.
The judges, who delivered the prohibition order on Thursday, had raised concerns over crowd safety during earlier hearings.
Comparing the protest to a massive August rally across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where between 90,000 and 300,000 marched in the rain, chief justice Andrew Bell said even more could attend Sunday’s event.
He also noted Macquarie Street could become a “narrow funnel” that pushes protesters into a tight space.
NSW has a permit system that allows protest participants to block public roads and infrastructure unless a court denies permission after a police challenge.
An impromptu demonstration was staged by pro-Palestinian supporters on the storied building’s forecourt in the days following the October 7 massacre in 2023.
