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NationalNSWIsraeli-Palestinian conflict

Herzog visit as it happened: Chaos in Sydney’s CBD as pro-Palestine protesters clash with police; Israeli president speaks at ICC

Angus Thomson, Angus Dalton and Josefine Ganko
Updated ,first published

Key Posts

What we covered today
Palestine Action Group call for protest against police on Tuesday
Police actions defended as ‘justified’
27 arrested as police accuse protest organisers of ‘inciting the crowd to march’
Greens MP accuses officers of ‘police violence’
Police hold Herzog’s audience in place to avoid clash with protesters
Protesters ‘bashed’ and ‘attacked’ by police, organisers say
Video shows police hauling Muslim men off the ground as they pray
Protest organiser told crowd to ‘take back our streets’
Hundreds of people remain at Town Hall amid protest chaos

What we covered today

By Josefine Ganko

This is where we will conclude today’s coverage of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Sydney, and the CBD rally where police and protesters clashed. Follow our rolling coverage for further updates tomorrow.

Here’s what you need to know:

  • An eleventh-hour Supreme Court challenge to sweeping police powers enacted for Herzog’s visit failed on Monday afternoon, allowing police extra power to shut down parts of the CBD and eastern suburbs, move protesters on and limit the number of people gathered.
  • Activists opted to continue with the planned protest at Sydney’s Town Hall, with approximately 6000 people gathering from 5.30pm.
  • After the rally concluded, tension grew as police attempted to disperse protesters as they tried to push past barricades to march through the CBD.
  • Capsicum spray was deployed, 27 protesters were arrested, and ten police officers were allegedly assaulted. No serious injuries were reported.
  • In a late-night press conference, Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said he was “disappointed” in protest organisers for “inciting” the crowd to break the law by marching in the CBD, while defending the police response as “justified”.
  • As the protest was taking place, Israeli President Isaac Herzog was the guest of honour at an event at Sydney’s International Convention Centre, receiving a standing ovation from the crowd of over 7000 people that included NSW Premier Chris Minns, former prime minister Scott Morrison, former opposition leader Peter Dutton and former treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
  • Earlier, Herzog laid a tribute at the site of the Bondi terror attack and met with members of Sydney’s Jewish community, including victims of the shooting.
6000 people gathered for the rally outside Town Hall on Monday.Wolter Peeters
27 people were arrested during outbreaks of violence following the rally, as protesters attempted to march through the CBD.Wolter Peeters
While the protest was taking place, Israeli President Isaac Herzog was the guest of honour at a special event at the International Convention Centre.Oscar Colman

Palestine Action Group call for protest against police on Tuesday

By Jessica McSweeney

The Palestine Action Group has called on supporters to protest against the police after 27 protesters were arrested on Monday evening.

In a post to social media, the activist group accused the police of brutality and encouraged followers to descend upon a Sydney police station on Tuesday evening.

“Genocide is a crime, protest is not,” the group said.

“Be there tomorrow night to stand up against [NSW Premier Chris] Minns’ disgusting police state, to demand all charges against protesters be dropped, and to demand accountability and charges be laid against violent police.”

Police actions defended as ‘justified’

By Josefine Ganko

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna has defended officers seen in social media footage in violent interactions with protesters, suggesting that the vision is out of context, and the police response was “justified”.

“It’s very early, but what I’ll say is the police were involved in violent confrontations throughout the night, over a number of hours,” he said.

“And if you just take 30 seconds of any video and then judge on it, well, you’re probably not doing the right thing and probably not putting it all together the way it really needs to.”

He added that NSW Police would be open to releasing body-worn video when it becomes available.

A man in an altercation with police in Sydney on Monday afternoon.@davidshoebridge
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Trust lost between police and protest organisers, says assistant commissioner

By Josefine Ganko

The relationship between protest organisers and police will have to be rebuilt after a rally protesting the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog turned violent, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said.

McKenna was asked about the usually co-operative relationship between NSW Police and the Palestine Action Group, the organisers of this afternoon’s protests, and many of the pro-Palestine protests in Sydney over several years.

He agreed that the relationship had changed as a result of Monday evening’s rally, suggesting that the Palestine Action Group have “got some work to do to build some trust back with us, and with the community”.

“They’ve said that ‘they don’t act violently, they will cooperate with us. They don’t want any arrests, they want to work within the law’. And then you’ve got people coming out on loud hailers and using microphones and having speakers up there saying the exact opposite, to come and break the law.”

Sydney protest behaviour was ‘outrageous’: assistant commissioner

By Josefine Ganko

Ten police officers were allegedly assaulted by protesters during a rally outside Town Hall on Monday night, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said at a late-night press conference.

McKenna said he was “really upset” that officers had been assaulted during the “rolling fights” and “violent behaviours by members of the crowd”.

Police tussle with protesters.Wolter Peeters

He said it took “hours and hours” to clear the CBD.

“It was outrageous, the behaviour we saw across Sydney streets tonight. And I’m really, really disappointed by it,” he said.

27 arrested as police accuse protest organisers of ‘inciting the crowd to march’

By Josefine Ganko

At a late-night press conference, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna has accused the organisers of the pro-Palestine protest of “inciting the crowd to march”, and suggested that the language used by speakers was “inflammatory”.

“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and arrangements and negotiations we had with the Palestinian Action Group, who were the leaders of the protest, they wanted to go ahead and have the protest at the Town Hall,” McKenna said.

McKenna said the Palestine Action Group were offered the alternate protest location of Hyde Park, where he claimed a march could have been facilitated, but that “under the current restrictions that are in place, no such march or procession was able to take place in the CBD”.

27 people were arrested at the protest, where several violent confrontations broke out.Wolter Peeters

“Despite this, every speaker that got up at that protest tonight asked the crowd to march, they incited the crowd to march, and it was really something that was quite inflammatory,” he said.

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Hannah Thomas says protest violence was ‘far worse than anything I’ve ever seen’

By Josefine Ganko

Hannah Thomas, a former Greens candidate who was severely injured during an interaction with police at a protest last year, says the violence that broke out between police and protesters at Town Hall today was “far worse than anything I’ve ever seen”.

Thomas suffered a serious eye injury when police officers broke up an anti-Israel protest in June 2025, outside a plating manufacturer in Belmore.

Posting to Instagram to react to the clashes on Monday night, Thomas wrote that NSW Premier Chris Minns is “to blame for every single injury” and “every act of violence”.

“The horrific scenes today were the entirely predictable outcome of his utter refusal to let the people of this state march on our own streets.”

Thomas said she sheltered with other protesters inside a 7/11 convenience store, recounting how an officer allegedly stood outside “menacingly” and tried to get the store owner to open the door, calling the encounter “terrifying”.

“I feel terribly guilty that I did not stay longer… but the trauma was frankly too much to bear,” she wrote.

In pictures: Chaos erupts at Town Hall protest

By

Photographer Dean Sewell was amid the chaos at Town Hall as police and protesters clashed at a protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit.

Multiple people were arrested at the Town Hall protest.Dean Sewell
A protester is taken away by police.Dean Sewell
Police used capsicum spray on the crowd.Dean Sewell
Mounted police officers attempted to disperse the crowd.Dean Sewell

Imams Council outraged by footage of police grabbing praying men

By Angus Dalton

The National Imams Council has released a statement on “shocking” footage that shows police grabbing and shoving men who were praying near Town Hall.

The council called for Premier Chris Minns to take responsibility for the conduct of police.

The recent footage of Muslims praying in the city during the protest against the appalling visit of the Israeli President, being heavy-handedly pushed and forcibly moved by police while in prayer, is shocking, deeply disturbing, and entirely unacceptable.

Police are entrusted to protect the community, uphold public safety, and de-escalate tensions, not to interfere with religious worship or inflame an already sensitive situation.

ANIC is outraged by this footage and has raised urgent and serious concerns directly with the NSW Police Commissioner and relevant ministers.

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‘A very messy situation’: An update from the ground

By Jessica McSweeney

Watch a video update from reporter Jessica McSweeney below:

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