Police withdraw opposition to Sydney rally for this Sunday

ABC NEWS (Australia)

During the final moments of a supreme court hearing police have withdrawn their opposition to a pro-Palestinian rally scheduled for Sunday in Sydney’s CBD.

Transcript

00:00It was only a short time ago here at the New South Wales Supreme Court that this resolution

00:07was reached.

00:08Essentially, an 11th hour compromise which sees New South Wales Police and the Palestinian

00:15Action Group meet together and find a resolution which means that Sunday's planned rally on

00:21October 6th will go ahead with the authorisation of police which grants certain protections

00:26to those marching through the Sydney CBD.

00:29Now a difference in what will take place on that march now is that they will not hold

00:33it at the town hall in the CBD which police previously raised safety concerns over.

00:39That will now take place in Hyde Park and they will march through the city and back

00:43to Hyde Park again.

00:45Now the Police Assistant Police Commissioner, Peter McKenna, he said he raised some questions

00:50about that planned route because it went past the Great Synagogue.

00:54It seems though some resolution has been made there and they will take part in that

00:59march which will potentially include thousands of people taking part with police protection

01:05and authorisation.

01:06Now when it comes to the planned event on Monday which is October 7th, they will still

01:13be taking part in a candlelit vigil on that day as well.

01:18And essentially they say they don't need any authorisation to hold that vigil as well because

01:22it's not a moving rally or march and they'll stay stationary.

01:27They say about 100 or hundreds of people will turn up to that candlelit vigil but they don't

01:33exactly know how many people will actually rock up in the end.

01:37They said they don't need authorisation so police didn't have the power to make that

01:41an unauthorised event and that will take place as well.

01:43So essentially 11th hour compromise between the two parties here at the NSW Supreme Court

01:49which will see thousands of people rally through the heart of Sydney on Sunday and

01:54a candlelit vigil on Monday.

01:57And what's been the reaction outside court?

02:00Yeah, well there's been a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who have been outside NSW Supreme

02:05Court waiting for the final decision all afternoon and of course they're very happy with what's

02:11taken place inside the courtroom, they're happy that they'll be marching on Sunday and

02:17that it will be potentially a peaceful protest because of that police protection despite

02:22what police had previously said about concerns for safety and rising tensions in the community.

02:29And we heard from the Assistant Police Commissioner inside court who said that it only takes about

02:34one or two people for things to go wrong and for it to turn into a tinderbox and that's

02:39why he was basically putting forward that motion that it wouldn't be a protest that

02:44police would support.

02:46But obviously there's been a bit of backroom chat now and they've been able to find a resolution.

02:50They've decided that the best option is to hold that public event with police's support

02:55which is obviously something that a lot of the people out here are supportive of as well.

03:00We also heard from one of the main organisers from the Palestinian Action Group, John Lees.

03:06He's happy as well that this can all take place.

03:09He says it's a major win for freedom of speech and the freedom to protest as well and they

03:14say they will do everything they can with their appointed marshals to make sure they

03:18can keep the peace as best as possible and they can continue to be heard in what is supposed

03:23to be marking a year since the war on Israel and Gaza first began.

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