Court solidarity protest: Drop the Herzog protest charges, stop the police cover-up

Stop the War on Palestine and allies will rally at 8:30am Friday 30 October outside Downing Centre Court to demand the charges against the 18 remaining Herzog protesters be dropped. The protest will also demand police and Chris Minns’ government end the attempted cover-up of their actions by releasing all documents, communications and records requested by the defence The court will be dealing with these matters on the 30th.

The defence, led by lawyer Nick Hanna and Barrister Felicity Graham, are seeking to subpoena police documents and instructions, overhead drone footage, decisions about the anti-protest regime that covered Herzog’s visit, and communications between police and government Ministers. 

On 19 October, Judge Scott Nash ordered that NSW Police provide these documents and materials. However, this ruling is now being challenged by police on “public interest immunity” grounds. 

The defence are arguing the entire police operation was unlawful. A trial on the common legal issues between the defendants is planned for the week of 8 March 2027, days before the NSW election. The defence team intends to call the Premier and senior Ministers to give evidence. NSW Premier Chris Minns defended police actions in the days after the rally saying, “we can’t blame the police for doing what we asked them to do.”

Also on 19 October, the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission held its first public hearings. Chief Commissioner the Hon Peter Johnson SC explained that they will investigate police planning and response, use of pepper spray, use of force, and improper use of arrest powers in hearings over the next 6 weeks.

Speakers at Friday’s rally include:

• Jenny Leong, NSW Greens MP for Newtown
• Shannen Potter, NSW Council for Civil Liberties Vice President
• Siena Hopper, protestor charged at the demonstration against Isaac Herzog
• Adam Adelpour, Stop the War on Palestine spokesperson

Shannen Potter, Vice President of NSW Council for Civil Liberties said, “All remaining charges in relation to the protest at Town Hall on 9 February should be immediately dropped. They are a direct result of laws which have since been found to be unconstitutional, and of police escalation on the ground. Protestors that night had the democratic right to assemble and march. People should not be punished because the police chose to take actions to frustrate those rights.

“The escalation of tensions and violence by police that night is clear to the community. In that context, public trust in policing and the administration of justice is only being eroded by the continuance of these prosecutions. NSW Police must stop hiding behind public interest immunity and release relevant material to court, LECC and public scrutiny. This is the only way to restore public trust in the police.”

Stop the War on Palestine spokesperson Adam Adelpour said, “Minns’ draconian anti-protest laws were struck down in April. Police have now been forced to drop many of the 30 charges initially laid. Yet disgracefully 18 people still face charges in relation to the violent, anti-democratic and unconstitutional police operation unleashed by the Premier.”

Adelpour continued, “The charges must be dropped and there must be justice for those who have suffered reputational damage, restrictive bail conditions and hardship and for those harmed in police attacks. All the remaining anti-protest laws must be withdrawn.

“We demand full transparency and cooperation from the NSW Police and all government agencies, officials and Ministers with the LECC and the courts. Stop trying to obstruct the work of the LECC and of the courts.

“The thousands who protested the genocidal Israeli President Herzog stood on the right side of history. Days ago the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry found that ‘Israel has committed war crimes and the crimes against humanity of extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, intentionally targeting Palestinian civilians as it continues to commit genocide in Gaza’. Israel’s genocidal onslaught against the Palestinians in Gaza has now killed at least 74,480 people, at least 1,522 since the so-called ‘ceasefire’. Land seizures and settler and IDF attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank have reached catastrophic levels.

“Minns and the police must drop the charges and end the cover-up and Albanese must sanction Israel now.”

Siena Hopper, Herzog rally arrestee said, “The injustice of the events of February 9 extends beyond the violence itself. The police officers responsible for their conduct remain anonymous, shielded by the very institutions that are supposed to hold them accountable. Meanwhile, the people arrested and subjected to police violence have been exposed to public scrutiny and left to live with the physical, psychological and legal consequences of that day.

“As a person living with a chronic health condition, the impact has been particularly devastating. The physical and psychological toll of the arrest has compounded the challenges I already navigate daily. As a law student, I face great uncertainty about my future as a result of the charges against me, and whether I will be able to practice in the profession I have trained for.

“I should not have to live with the consequences of this experience while the people responsible can remain anonymous and shielded from public scrutiny. If the state can identify, arrest and expose protesters, the public must be able to demand transparency from the police who perpetrated violence against them.

“I will not be intimidated into silence. Central to the discussions about this legal battle should be the fact that, instead of doing anything to prevent an ongoing genocide, our government spent extensive resources protecting a key perpetrator of this genocide, and abusing and prosecuting its own citizens who criticised this decision.”

A Herzog rally arrestee, who has choosen to remain anonymous, said in their victim impact statement, “I had supported the Free Palestine movement regularly attending peaceful rallies since 2023, without incident.

“On 9 February 2026, I attended the rally to protest a war criminal, to object to our governments support of a genocidal state and to show my support for the besieged people of Palestine. With me were other peaceful protestors including elderly folk, disabled people, women and children. No one could have expected the violence that ensued.

“Kettled in on all sides, we all stood in solidarity shoulder to shoulder with nowhere we could possibly of go. Without warning, I was ripped from the crowd and brutally thrown to the ground by three police officers, sustaining significant injury as they used excessive force to push my head onto the concrete. All I remember is going limp, a piercing ringing echoing in my ears and the muffled noise of police screaming ‘Stop resisting!’.

“The vicious, police-inflicted violence and the repercussions occurring as a result has changed my life irrevocably. Furthermore, the perceived impunity of the officers involved and the fact this was allowed to happen on mass and with enthusiasm (even glee as we have witnessed from certain officers) to so many peaceful activists like me is a harsh reality that I still find it difficult to grasp.”

For media comment contact:

• Shannen Potter, Vice President of NSW Council for Civil Liberties (enable JavaScript to view phone number)
• Adam Adelpour, Stop the War on Palestine spokesperson (enable JavaScript to view phone number)