New South Wales Premier Chris Minns has come forward today to defend the actions of police amid the pro-Palestine protests in central Sydney, which coincided with Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia.
Speaking on the Today show this morning, Minns urged the public not to form judgments based solely on brief social media videos depicting the events.
He emphasized that the police faced a challenging situation, revealing that officers were actively working to prevent clashes between demonstrators and thousands of Jewish mourners that gathered yesterday.
Among the critics was Labor backbencher Sarah Kaine, who not only attended the rally against the premier’s stance but also labeled the police response as “over the top.”
Minns argued that without the police intervention, the situation could have escalated further, adding that Kaine’s criticism was unfounded.
“No. She’s wrong. I’m not going to throw police under the bus this morning,” he asserted.
“This is a situation that’s incredibly combustible. And the circumstances that weren’t shown on the news this morning or on TV last night because is what would have happened if protesters breached police lines … It would have dangerous … as difficult as the scenes were to watch, it would have been infinitely worse if NSW police didn’t do their job last night.”
The Palestine Action Group Sydney in a social media post condemned “the brutal attack by the NSW Police” and said protesters had behaved peacefully.
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