Shielding Power, Breaking Protest: A Timeline of State Responses to Dissent

🗓 1) Timeline of the Protests by City (Feb 2026)

📌 Before the Visit (Feb 8)
• Sydney: The Palestine Action Group launches a Supreme Court challenge against expanded protest powers granted to NSW Police ahead of Herzog’s arrival, calling them “draconian” and a threat to free protest.

📌 Feb 9 — Day 1 of Isaac Herzog’s Visit

🇦🇺 Sydney
• Thousands gather at Town Hall Square in Sydney’s CBD for a major protest against Herzog’s visit, which had been declared a “major event” by authorities with special police powers in place.
• Sydney police use pepper spray and force against crowds as demonstrators attempt to march despite protest restrictions upheld by the NSW Supreme Court earlier that day.
• 27 people are arrested in Sydney and multiple officers are reported assaulted during clashes as tensions escalate.

🇦🇺 Melbourne
• A rally takes place at Flinders Street Station, where protesters voice similar opposition to Herzog’s visit and chant solidarity slogans.

🇦🇺 Canberra
• Around 500 protesters gather at Garema Place, with participation from federal Greens leader Larissa Waters and Senator Fatima Payman.

🇦🇺 Brisbane
• 1,000+ people rally in King George Square against Herzog’s visit, arguing it’s divisive.

📌 Feb 10 — Aftermath and Continued Tension
• Protests and clashes are reported to have continued into the following day in Sydney, with Palestinian groups decrying heavy police action.
• Herzog continues his scheduled tour, including memorial events related to the Bondi Beach atrocity, despite the protests.

🗣 2) Best Quotes (Jewish groups, Organizers, Authorities & Participants)

Jewish Voices of Dissent: Opposition Within the Community

Contrary to portrayals that all Australian Jews supported President Herzog’s visit, significant Jewish dissent was publicly expressed. The Jewish Council of Australia (JCA) — a progressive Jewish organisation critical of the Israeli government — released an open letter signed by more than 1,000 Jewish Australian academics, rabbis, lawyers and community leaders urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to rescind Herzog’s invitation. JCA’s executive leader Sarah Schwartz described the visit as “completely inappropriate and offensive and will rightly spark mass protests,” arguing that “inviting a foreign head of state who is implicated in an ongoing genocide as a representative of the Jewish community… risks entrenching the dangerous and antisemitic conflation between Jewish identity and the actions of the Israeli state”. Schwartz added: “Growing numbers of Jews in Australia and globally oppose the actions of the Israeli government and reject its attempts to speak in our name. We refuse to be ignored or silenced.”

7news.com.au

📌 From Protest Organizers & Participants

“Instead of respecting the right of 50,000 people who turned up to express their outrage… the police resorted to unleashing unseen violent repression.” — Palestine Action Group Sydney (organizer response to police actions)

“The Bondi massacre was terrible, but from our Australian leadership there’s been no acknowledgment of the Palestinian people and the Gazans.” — Protester in Sydney

“This visit is not going to contribute to social cohesion… all it’s done is create further division.” — Protester at Melbourne rally

📌 From Authorities & Government Figures

“We do not want conflict; we want to ensure this is conducted in a peaceful and safe manner and I’m confident we can achieve that.” — NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Paul McKenna on police plans ahead of protests.

“Such violence undermines any cause… Australians want to avoid imported conflicts.” — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urging calm after clashes.

📌 From Isaac Herzog

“"It is important for me to say that I have come here in goodwill... These demonstrations, in most cases, what you hear and see, comes to undermine and delegitimise our right — my nation’s right, the nation which I am the head of state of — of its mere existence."

✔ Summary of verified facts:
• Protests took place simultaneously in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Canberra, coinciding with Herzog’s visit.
• Sydney saw the largest turnout and the most intense clashes with police, resulting in arrests and police crowd control measures like pepper spray.
• Authorities used expanded powers to restrict marches and maintain separation between groups.
• Protesters’ messages varied from broader opposition to Israeli policies in Gaza to criticism of the Australian government’s handling of the visit.

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