A collection of first hand accounts of police brutality at Sydney's anti-Herzog protest

On Monday night, thousands of Sydneysiders witnessed shocking police violence at a protest against the arrival of Israeli President and accused war criminal Isaac Herzog. As the NSW Government attempts to twist the narratives, these first hand witness accounts are critical.

---

Image: Ari Balle-Bowness

Cheek has received dozens of first-hand accounts from Monday nights protest, and they all tell the same story: one of dangerous police tactics, poor crowd control, and excessive use of force. Hundreds witnessed or were subjected to physical violence. Fear and confusion spread quickly across the crowd as police gave inconsistent and unclear instructions, leading many to come to the intention that the chaos that resulted was intentional.

This kind of behaviour shouldn’t surprise us. For years it has been the reality for many in the First Nations and immigrant communities who have experienced targeting and brutalisation at the NSW Police force. However, the sheer scale and brazen nature of the violence witnessed at Sydney’s anti-Herzog protest feels unprecedented.

Still, NSW Premier Chris Minns has attempted to twist the narrative. He has said that the widely circulating footage of police violence has been taken out of context. But the stories of those on the ground paint a clear picture.

In this article, we are putting the spotlight on several longer accounts that give a clear timeline of how the events went down.

Sylvie Ellsmore, City of Sydney Councillor for The Greens

Image: Supplied

Last night I joined with thousands of others at the Sydney Town Hall to protest the visit by Israeli President and alleged war criminal Isaac Herzog. It has been decades since I last saw this level of police violence directed at protesters. The visit, and the violent suppression of protests against Herzog, have left many people confused and scared about our democracy - at a time when what people need most is healing and care.

I attended the protest as a City of Sydney Councillor. I attended in solidarity with the movement for peace and justice for Palestine, and to offer support if needed, having been a regular at protests for decades.

I was near the stage and heard all the speakers. There were people of all ages there, a lot of people who don’t tend to go to protests, alongside lots of staunch activists and organisations who organise and attend protests often.

We were boxed in tight, so I never moved more than 10 metres from under the windows of my office at Sydney Town Hall. My office looks over Town Hall Square, where the speakers were. It’s a space designated for the community to meet, to speak out, and to protest about issues they care about.

Like so many protests, when you’re not sure if you’ll march on not, we stood chatting after the speeches ended. Every now and again we yelled things like “shame” and “let us march”, then went back to chatting, waiting. We watched as the ‘negotiating’ cops disappeared, and the swarms of cops in riot gear moved in. Their introduction usually signifies violence towards protestors has been green lit. People started to get nervous.

The experience I had of what happened next is consistent with what is clear from so much of the footage.

I witnessed police in riot gear swarming on individuals, slamming bodies into concrete. I saw police on horseback charging protesters. I was next to the prayer group when the police moved in to push and throw people onto concrete and steel. I saw fingernail marks and bruises on arms from grabs and pushes by police. I saw people scared trying to run away as riot cops advanced, but not knowing where to go because they’d been boxed in by a different row of police.

We were swapping messages. “they started pepper spraying everyone”. “they’ve broken someone’s arm”. “have you got xxx, is she ok”. “No she’s injured, but she’s going to the hospital”.

I helped people out of the way as the police moved forward in a thick line (’kettling’), screaming and pushing people as they went, sometimes breaking the line, to swarm or throw someone onto the ground or push them over.

Last night at the protest, while I was shoved and yelled at by cops, I was never given “a move on order”. The riot police line was advancing to “clear the square” - but it wasn’t clear where they were pushed to. I walked up to a cop - “which way do you want us to leave from”? He looked at me, and walked away without a word. I went to another - he said “that way, there’s a narrow way we’ve made for you to go out”. Then the riot police line started advancing again, but pushing us in the other direction.

I saw lots of people - actually just women, but of different ages - frozen and shaky, unsure or unable to respond, assumedly not having being faced with swarms of cops with guns, horses and army boots screaming at and pushing or punching them before. I saw angry cops. I also saw cops who looked like they didn’t want to be there, they didn’t want to be doing what they had clearly been directed to do.

And after the protest - helping each other, checking in, swapping notes and footage, hearing about injuries, calling my 75 year old parents to see if they left early enough to not get hurt.

I have been to lots of protests, I know lots of people who have been picked out of protests by police to be roughed up, or seriously injured. I know more than one friend who has successfully sued and won damages for unprovoked police violence. But the scale and broader targeting by protesters last night was something I haven’t seen for a long time. It was a catastrophic mistake by Labor Prime Minister Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns to bring Hertzog here when they knew it would incite fear and division - and then to violently suppress the protests for human rights. It is not illegal to protest, and we must not become a country where it becomes normal for protests - even passionate protests - to be met with armed, riot police and violence.

I am proud to be part of a government - our @cityofsydney council - which stands up for the right to protest.We will continue to do this.

And as a community we will continue to protest. If you know people who participated last night, please check in on them. This wasn’t right. It isn’t normal. But it will happen again unless we stand up to it.

Yiana

Image: Supplied

Currently sitting on my balcony listening to the cicadas and trying to breathe deep. I’m reeling and feeling pretty shaken by what I saw and experienced at the protest tonight.

I turned up late and wasn’t allowed to get through to Town Hall steps. Two rows of riot squad police stopped anyone from getting closer. If I’m being honest, the sheer police presence intimidated me. I was on the front line of the crowd and alone. I couldn’t reach my friends and family who were already inside. I kept debating if I should move back, kept thinking that if the police wanted to do anything then I’d be hopelessly swept up in the chaos, and I wasn’t there for chaos. But the crowd was calm and their energy convinced me that everything would be okay. Eventually after about 30 minutes they started letting people through.

The protest was peaceful. I felt the air of frustration, of grief, of outrage, but the leading feeling was actually the solidarity within the shared experience of all the heaviness. I saw people hugging in the crowd - a Palestinian woman thanking a stranger for coming to the rally. Groups calling out “are you here alone? Come, come join us”.

I found my people and we managed to snag a spot up on a platform against a railing, a good view of both the steps and George Street. I had an unobstructed view of a large portion of the crowd gathered across the light rail tracks, flanked either side by a mind boggling amount of police. Seemingly out of nowhere, a 4 row deep wave of police on foot and a row of police on horseback charged at the crowd of protesters. Fully stationary police set off into an inexplicable full pelt run at a wall of peaceful people. People were thrown to the ground, smashed against walls… pepper sprayed, punched, kicked, shoved, trampled.

I watched a group of men in peaceful prayer be brutalised. They ripped men up from prayer. Once they were up, police then violently pushed and pulled them back down to the ground. A shoulder to shoulder line of cops stormed across the front of Town Hall steps, pushing everyone out, intimidating us, scaring us. Ordering us to comply.

I make the rules and you comply. Move back. Move on. Disperse. Fuck off.

People were terrified, the energy had completely shifted and we knew we had to get out of there as fast as possible. After frantically trying to escape the violence, we found an exit through an alleyway only to find another line of police on foot and horseback. We saw them aggressively moving people on, most of whom were already trying to move on and get away from the mess. I keep replaying in it my head. People running past us howling and weeping after being tear gassed. Someone thrown to the ground and arrested for the crime of not moving away fast enough. A stranger filming and screaming.

I can’t articulate how I feel about it adequately yet. I feel too much and the post adrenaline comedown is real.

We cannot let them beat us into apathy and complacency. Maintain the rage. There must be accountability for all levels of injustice here. Shame, shame, shame.”

Having had time to think about it overnight and the opportunity to debrief with people, I feel so angry that the government, the police force, and the media have spun this into a story about how protesters are violent and manipulative and cannot be trusted. I know what I can trust, and that is what I witnessed with my own two eyes. The police were the violent ones.

Breanna

Image: Supplied

There were thousands of people there from all different communities and races. Young people, families with kids & dogs, elderly, people using walkers, disabled, people in wheelchairs. All behaving peacefully and respectful of everyone's safety and concern for the greater cause.

After the speeches ended there was confusion about what was happening. My partner and I wandered over to the light rail station to spread out and get more space away from others. We waited for a while to see what was happening and if the march was going to start. Everyone continued to behave safely and calmly. We wandered over to the walls of Town Hall building so we could be out of the way. We noticed that there were police horses (maybe 2-3 or more) blocking the exit and I saw a tall metal fence behind them. Some people who were trying to leave the protest had to crawl through a bush to get out and away. People continued to walk around calmly.

Then all of a sudden, there was a rush of people running and some screams. People had their faces covered and I asked a man standing next to me what was happening. He said they had been using tear gas and pepper spray on people. My partner and I decided to leave, but we weren’t sure how because the police horse and fences were still blocking the way. So we had to jump over a raised garden bed and then jump down onto the street from a fair height.

We then wandered around looking for a shop to buy water. We noticed men outside a convenience store pouring water over their faces. Their faces were bright red and burned. We bought them some water and kept walking. We kept walking through the city to find something to eat and at a cross street, saw people running and screaming trying to get away from police. People who were not even involved in the protest were scared and panicked and started to run when they saw others running.

We were at the protest from 5 until about 8. We did not see a single act of violence or aggression from any protestors that entire time. It was the police who were intimidating and threatening. I was more scared of the police than the thousands of fellow protestors. Up until the police attack, the protest had been a beautiful show of humanity and solidarity that made me feel hopeful. I am disgusted in the footage I am seeing of police bashing up people, repeatedly peppers spraying people at close range directly in the face, and harming Muslims who were praying... I mean surely that’s a hate crime and should be investigated as such??

I am disturbed by the mainstream media and how they will paint this as violent protesters from extremists or antisemitic. They use words like ‘clashes’... They’re were no clashes... Just an outright abuse and imbalance of power and attacking people who were peacefully protesting.