NSW Supreme Court authorises pro-Palestine march on Harbour Bridge
NSW Police had sought a prohibition order in the Supreme Court against the Palestine Action Group's planned march of up to 100,000 protesters on Sunday, arguing it was unprecedented in scale and posed a threat to public safety on one of the city's major arteries.
'The application by the commissioner should be refused,' Justice Belinda Rigg said in her judgment on Saturday.
Palestine Action Group organiser Josh Lees said the iconic bridge was critical to the planned march as it would send 'an urgent and massive response' to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The protesters planned to gather at Lang Park on Sunday afternoon, regardless of whether the court approved the march.
The court's decision means protesters will now have the legal right to occupy the bridge and streets leading to it in the Sydney CBD on Sunday.
The decision follows a week of political upheaval for the state government after five Labor MPs defied Premier Chris Minns to sign a letter endorsing the march.
The letter called on the government to work with protest organisers to facilitate a safe march and detailed 'in strong terms our disapproval of the ongoing starvation of the Palestinian people'.
Minns said on Friday that he recognised the outpouring of community anger over the humanitarian situation in Gaza after images of starving Palestinian children shocked the world.
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