‘It’s not open season on the bridge’: Premier’s verdict on protest that stopped traffic

3 months ago 21

The premier is warning “it’s not open season on the bridge” as the government scrambles to determine if Sunday’s march across Sydney’s main landmark will set a precedent for future demonstrations.

The peaceful march – which police estimated to comprise 90,000 people, though protesters put that figure at 200,000 to 300,000 – passed without arrests or injuries as the demonstrators called for sanctions against Israel and the free flow of aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza.

Premier Chris Minns said his government is considering whether a judgment in the Supreme Court to authorise the protest will make it easier for other groups to stage similar marches, after Sunday’s action cost the state “millions”.

“No one should assume it’s open season on the bridge,” Minns said. “We’re not going to have a situation where the anti-vaccine group has it one Saturday, and then the weekend after that, critical mass takes over and then the weekend after that we have an environmental cause, and then the weekend after that because of an industrial dispute.”

Minns said if a precedent was set, it’s something the government would consider more closely with a view of balancing the right to protest with the right for Sydneysiders to access the city on weekends.

Last-minute changes to the route created some confusion on Sunday, compounded when police sent out several text messages telling protesters not to proceed to North Sydney as planned and instead turn back to the city.

Premier Chris Minns backed the actions of police at Sunday’s protest.

When asked whether police added to confusion or catastrophised what was a peaceful demonstration, Minns backed the actions of police.

“I think you’d be a real hard marker to knock police here,” he said. “It’s a logistically difficult thing to navigate because you’ve got a confined space and an overwhelming number of people.”

On Sunday evening, police said the event had been “perilous” and came “very close” to a “catastrophic situation”. They needed more time than the week’s notice given to safely facilitate the march, police said.

On Friday, they had argued their case in court, presenting concerns of a crowd-crush, but Justice Belinda Rigg ultimately found the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly outweighed any inconvenience caused.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley said police handled the event “brilliantly”.

“Never before has there been a protest of that magnitude in our city, and given that it was incident free, I have to say thank you to the NSW Police,” Catley said. “They are experts when it comes to crowd management, and they certainly displayed that skill yesterday when fronted with a protest that was brought about with just a few days’ notice, described as up to 100,000 people.”

The Harbour Bridge was closed for about five hours for the march, which various Labor MPs attended, as well as members of the Greens, former Socceroo Craig Foster, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former NSW premier Bob Carr and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore.

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