Sydney Harbour Bridge Palestine protest LIVE: Thousands set to march for Gaza

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8.10am

No tolerance for ‘racism of any kind’

In her decision on Saturday, Justice Belinda Rigg said Palestine Action Group Sydney organiser Josh Lees gave evidence that the timing of the march and its location was “directly responsive to the dramatic increase in the known suffering of Gazan citizens over the last weeks”.

Palestine Action Group’s Josh Lees after the Supreme Court win on Saturday.

Lees gave unchallenged evidence that “ground rules for protests are well established, including no racism of any kind, including antisemitism”, the judge said. “This message has been put forward repeatedly through social media events pages and announcements at the protests.”

8.07am

Court rejected police bid for prohibition order

Protest organisers had been locked in a dispute with NSW Police after giving notice last week of their plans to march across “Australia’s most iconic symbol”.

The march will proceed from the Sydney CBD to North Sydney across the Harbour Bridge.

The Palestine Action Group offered to defer the march to a Sunday in coming weeks to allow for greater coordination with police, but organisers said police did not engage with that offer.

NSW Police ultimately lodged an urgent application in the Supreme Court, seeking a prohibition order over the protest. Despite its name, that order would not have resulted in the protest being banned outright, but would have left protesters exposed to a wider range of criminal sanctions, including for obstructing traffic.
In a decision delivered on Saturday morning after an urgent hearing on Friday, Justice Belinda Rigg rejected the police application.
Rigg’s decision meant the protest remained an authorised public assembly. It means protesters participating in the march have a limited immunity or protection from criminal liability for actions such as obstructing traffic.
However, this does not give protesters a licence to engage in criminal behaviour. Police still have a wide range of powers at their disposal.

8.05am

The planned route and road closures

In addition to the Harbour Bridge, CBD streets including York Street and Clarence Street, the Cahill Expressway over Circular Quay and the Western Distributor, and Grosvenor Street, as well as sections of Pacific Highway, Blue Street and Lavender Street in North Sydney, will be closed, Transport for NSW said on Saturday.

The march is expected to proceed from Lang Park, near Wynyard, and across the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney.

8.03am

Harbour Bridge set to close at 11.30am

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the planned pro-Palestine protest in Sydney today.

The protest is expected to result in tens of thousands of protesters marching across the Harbour Bridge to oppose the Israeli government’s military action in Gaza.

The Palestine Action Group successfully defended an application by NSW Police for a prohibition order over Sunday’s march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Organised by the Palestine Action Group, the march begins at 1pm at Lang Park in the Sydney CBD – on the corner of York, Grosvenor and Lang streets – and will proceed to the Harbour Bridge.

The bridge will be closed to traffic bridge in both directions between 11.30am and 4pm, but trains will still run across the bridge.

The harbour tunnel will be open to motorists. However, the Metro will be closed for planned trackwork, and bus services over the bridge will terminate at North Sydney or Wynyard.