{"id":111904,"date":"2025-08-02T03:04:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T03:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/111904\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T03:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T03:04:09","slug":"nsw-supreme-court-rules-in-favour-of-pro-palestine-march-across-sydney-harbour-bridge-new-south-wales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/111904\/","title":{"rendered":"NSW supreme court rules in favour of pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge | New South Wales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pro-Palestine protesters will be legally protected while marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday after a New South Wales<\/a> supreme court decision.<\/p>\n

In her judgment, Justice Belinda Rigg said \u201cthe march at this location is motivated by the belief that the horror and urgency of the situation in Gaza demands an urgent and extraordinary response from the people of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence indicates there is significant support for the march.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Palestine Action Group has claimed as many as 50,000 people will take part in the march across the bridge, protesting against Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza and the starvation of children.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, police rejected an application from organisers for it to facilitate the march. Police argued there was not enough time to prepare a traffic management plan and warned of a potential crowd crush and huge disruptions.<\/p>\n

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Once the application known as a \u201cform 1\u201d was rejected by police, the supreme court was required to decide whether the protest should be considered as \u201cauthorised\u201d, which provides some legal protections to demonstrators.<\/p>\n

Rigg said the fact the demonstration was likely to cause significant inconvenience to residents and others \u201cis far from determinative\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf matters such as this were to be determinative, no assembly involving inconvenience would be permitted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo deprive such groups the opportunity to demonstrate in an authorised public assembly would inevitably lead to resentment and alienation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rigg noted submissions from Palestine Action Group\u2019s spokesperson, Josh Lees, who told the court a demonstration on the bridge would send an \u201can urgent and massive response\u201d to the crisis in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public interest in freedom of expression, at this time, in the manner contemplated, for the reasons advanced, is very high,\u201d Rigg said.<\/p>\n

Rigg rejected any suggestion that her decision would condone any antisocial behaviour or violence at the demonstration or \u201cambulances not getting to hospital on time\u201d.<\/p>\n

The court ruling means protesters will have immunity from being charged under the summary offences act. This includes protection from offences like \u201cobstructing\u201d traffic \u2013 crucial in this particular protest.<\/p>\n

However, police will still have access to a range of other powers to stem so-called \u201canti-social behaviour\u201d or other types of offending. This includes showing prohibited symbols.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the decision, the police minister Yasmin Catley said the decision was \u201caccepted by the government\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice, we believe, will be able to handle the protest on the bridge tomorrow, so long as people are peaceful, that they listen to what the police ask them to do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut make no mistake, there is going to be massive, massive disruption. So our message is, avoid the city if you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Mejia-Canales, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the authorisation \u201cdoesn\u2019t give people the ability to engage in all types and all forms of activism\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important for people who do attend that they follow the directions of organisers and marshals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rigg said a counter protest against anti-semitism, organised by the Christian-led group called Never Again is Now, would not be granted legal protections because \u201cnotice was served less than seven days before the proposed assembly\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The group had been planning to protest outside the Sydney<\/a> harbour tunnel, in close proximity to the pro-Palestinian march. Rigg said police would have the legal power to direct this group to move on, or if necessary, arrest demonstrators for non-compliance.<\/p>\n

There is no authority to ban protest or deem it unlawful in NSW. This is because while there is no express right to protest in the state, it is covered in common law and by the Australian constitution, which the high court has found implies the right to freedom of political communication.<\/p>\n

The Palestinian Action Group\u2019s lawyer, Felicity Graham, told the court on Friday that organisers would proceed with the demonstration regardless of the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the firmest of instructions that Palestine Action Group are proceeding with this protest \u2026 It cannot be stopped,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

Lees said the group was willing to delay protest by up to three weeks if the police were willing to work with them.<\/p>\n

The police\u2019s barrister Lachlan Gyles argued that what was being asked was \u201cunprecedented\u201d in terms of the \u201crisk, the lack of time to prepare, and, of course, the location, which is one of the main arteries in one of the largest cities in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been no liaison whatsoever with any of the agencies and government authorities who would be involved, most particularly Transport for New South Wales,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The decision came after several NSW Labor MPs defied their premier, Chris Minns<\/a>, by vowing to attend the march. Minns had earlier opposed the protest and said \u201cwe cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos\u201d.<\/p>\n

Labor\u2019s Stephen Lawrence, Anthony D\u2019Adam, Lynda Voltz, Cameron Murphy and Sarah Kaine were among 15 NSW politicians who signed an open letter on Thursday evening calling on the government to facilitate \u201ca safe and orderly event\u201d on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, said: \u201cThis landmark decision is a win for humanity, a win for starving children in Gaza, and a crushing defeat for this anti-protest Minns Labor government.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state opposition leader, Mark Speakman, said he respected the freedom to protest, including with rallies and marches, \u201cbut allowing the takeover of the Harbour Bridge for a protest in the middle of the day sets the wrong precedent for the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are plenty of other places to protest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestine protesters will be legally protected while marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday after a New…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-111904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114956957376426189","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}