Australia

Fuck off. Nazis can throw salutes and call for the extermination of trans people next to LNP members and that's fine. but some antisemites hang out with a protest about an ongoing and brutual occupation rapidly escalating to genocide and suddenly it's not OK?

Suddenly all your creepy surveillance powers are only good for use against climate protesters and you can't handle a tiny minority of racists trying to coopt a peaceful cause?

Ugh.

We don't prohibit anyone from the right to protest

We will put your name on a fucking list that says “probably a terrorist” though so maybe think twice about going before I tell your employer that you’re an antisemite for opposing the carpet bombing of refugee camps in gaza

Who gets to decide what an "appropriate" protest is? Does an appropriate protest happen to be something completely harmless which can safely be ignored, and changes nothing? Perhaps while the police freely curbstomp anyone who waved a sign too briskly?

Hi all, I've seen a few posts on other instances about the latest Israel/Palestine flair-up turn into mini wars. Both sides have wide support on the fediverse, so you are very likely to encounter people you disagree with in any post that even references it.

If you are going to engage, please keep it civil. Opinions and genuine discorse are welcome, individual attacks on users are not. Understand that we don't tolerate personal attacks at aussie.zone. There are other places in the fediverse if you feel like fighting and being nasty.

powers introduced in response to islamophobic backlash to be used in islamophobic backlash, details at 7

To repeat a post from a couple of days ago, from the organisers:

Palestine Action Group statement on last night's protest:

On 9 October 2023, Palestine Action Group organised a successful rally in support of Palestine, calling for the end of the occupation and for Australia to cut ties to Israel. Thousands on thousands of diverse attendees marched to the Opera House and demonstrated our opposition to Australia’s support to the State of Israel, a genocidal apartheid regime which has waged war on Palestinians for over 75 years.

Today, we have woken up to the Premier of NSW, the Prime-Minister, the Foreign Affairs Minister and Independent MP, Allegra Spender condemning our protests and questioning why it went ahead. Let us affirm, we have the right to demonstrate. At a conjuncture where anti-protest laws widen to target anyone who opposes the colonial and capitalist structures of this state from First Nations movements to the Climate Justice movement, the states attack on Pro-Palestinian protestors is no different. Australia as a colonial and imperialist entity will always support Israel and the state is frightened by people in their masses showing that we oppose imperialism and colonialism. At a time where the people of Palestine resist over 75 years of war and massacres and Israel declares intent to commit genocide against the people of Gaza, we will demonstrate, we will continue to demonstrate and we will show this state that we oppose apartheid, we oppose settler-colonialism and we oppose genocide.

Despite a very successful and peaceful rally, the media has reported on a tiny fringe (we estimate less than 20 people) of vile antisemitic attendees who showed up to the opera house for an event unrelated to the demonstration we organised. Media reports and videos circulating show young boys, mostly in their teens chanting “fuck the Jews”. From our observations this occurred for less than one minute and was not an ongoing chant. They were quickly condemned for their chants and asked to leave. Long-standing Palestinian organisers and activists, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim elders attending the protest were disgusted and deplored by the action. This is not what our movement stands for. We oppose Zionism, an ideology distinct from Judaism. We oppose Israel, a racist state which has waged genocide on Palestinians. We are an anti-racist and anti-colonial movement and we refuse to fight racism with racism.

PAG has a long-standing history of working with Jewish activists and organisers who oppose Zionism, from Tzedek to Jews against the occupation, we share anti racist and anti colonial values with our anti-Zionist Jewish siblings. We thank them for their ongoing solidarity, including the contingent who attended this very rally. We’ve checked in with as many of those Jewish people in the contingent as we know to ensure they are feeling safe and okay.

For over a decade we have organised peaceful Palestinian rallies and we have mobilised the Australian community and we will continue to mobilise. If you are an antisemite, you are not welcome at our rallies and are not a part of our movement. As we did today, we will ask you to leave and we will continue to do this. We thank the 99.9% who have continued to show up for Palestine, who have continued to help keep our rallies peaceful and promote anti-racist and anti-colonial values.

We will be back on the streets at 1pm, Sunday 15 October 2023, at Town Hall to continue to protest both attacks on Palestinian resistance and Israel’s declaration of genocide on Palestinians. We will not bow to pressure from parliamentarians to end our mobilisations. We will demonstrate until Palestine is free, from the river to the sea!

Free Palestine and f*ck racism.

https://www.facebook.com/syd.bmbc/posts/pfbid02DQP8J4JCNr42JcbT5cpiWkGPircjjj4iUU9v4xftU37xcFEwXmfjFuH5zGztuEwhl

Bunch of cunts the NSW police, picking and choosing when and where a protest is "acceptable", fuck off

Can we be pro Palestinian people but anti Hamas and anti violence?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyUom4jSw1u/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== (a reel posted by 9 news Sydney) sad how it’s only alright to mourn tragedies on one side and the stark differences in the depiction of the 2 sides.

Quite an international crackdown on any criticism of israel.

As much as I do believe in freedom to protest, the measures are completely justified, especially with the 'call to jihad' thats come out. This isnt a situation where one can expect protests to be peaceful

This is the best summary I could come up with:

NSW Police is considering authorising the use of "extraordinary" powers to search and identify protesters ahead of a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney planned for Sunday.

Acting Commissioner Dave Hudson said an event by the Palestinian Action Group Sydney was deemed unauthorised this week due to a form not being submitted within the required time frame.

It followed a protest in front of Sydney Opera House earlier this week where racial epithets were chanted by some attendees.

On Monday night hundreds of people attended a pro-Palestinian rally outside the Sydney Opera House, while the landmark was lit in colours of the Israeli flag.

At the protest flares were lit by some in the crowd and thrown onto the forecourt steps, where rows of police officers were monitoring the situation.

Acting Commissioner Hudson on Friday said if the powers were used, police would be able to search attendees without reasonable cause and request identification, where failure to provide relevant documents would be deemed an offence.

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