Hannah Thomas to launch civil case against police after prosecutors drop charges

1 week ago 3

Prosecutors have dropped charges against Hannah Thomas, who suffered a serious eye injury when officers broke up an anti-Israel protest in June, paving the way for the former Greens candidate to launch a civil lawsuit against the NSW Police.

At Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday, a lawyer from the Department of Public Prosecutions asked for the charges to be “withdrawn and dismissed”.

Former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas suffered an eye injury suffered after police broke up a protest in Sydney in June.

Thomas suffered a serious eye injury after police broke up an anti-Israel protest outside SEC Plating on June 27, a business in Belmore. She has undergone multiple surgeries since, and was warned by doctors that she may never regain vision in her right eye.

She was one of five protesters charged after the demonstration, which prompted serious criticism of NSW Police because of doubts over which laws officers relied on to break up the demonstration.

Thomas, still in her hospital bed, was charged with resisting arrest and refusing an order to disperse following the protest.

This masthead subsequently revealed she had been charged using a rarely invoked emergency anti-riot power introduced after the 2005 Cronulla riots to deal with “large-scale public disorder” which required authorisation from senior police to be used.

Police later said that the charge would be withdrawn and replaced with a standard charge for refusing to obey a move-on order.

But on Tuesday, all charges were dropped.

The decision will prompt Thomas, who stood for the Greens against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the inner west seat of Grayndler at the federal election, to commence civil action against the NSW Police over the arrest.

Senior police initially said there was no wrongdoing by officers during her arrest, and documents provided to the courts by police blamed “interference” from other protesters for her injury.

In the days following the incident, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden told the ABC he had conducted a “preliminary review” of body-worn footage from the arrest along with other senior officers and was not investigating the potential for excessive use of force by officers.

At the time, he said there was “no information at this stage before me that indicates any misconduct on behalf of any of my officers,” he said at the time.

However, her case was referred to the NSW Police internal affairs unit after this masthead revealed both lawyers and police sources who had reviewed body-worn footage from the protest said it showed she was punched.

In July, the NSW Police issued a statement confirming the referral, saying it was probing “questions of excessive force” by officers.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.