Pro-Palestinian protesters were allowed to chant ‘gas the Jews’ and burn the Star of David in front of Sydney’s Opera House on Monday night – while a counter-demonstrator was arrested for attempting to fly the Israeli flag.
The ‘despicable’ scenes have been roundly condemned by leaders from across the political spectrum. Attorney General Michael Daley – the highest law officer in NSW – admitted to being unaware of the protest in a car crash interview with 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday morning, before urgently back-pedaling and calling for people to ‘calm down and stay at home’.
Police are now under fire for allowing the rally to go ahead – while telling Jewish Australians to ‘stay home’ for their own safety. The rally, organized by the Palestine Action Group Sydney, saw vast numbers of pro-Palestine activists gather at Town Hall in Sydney’s CBD on Monday evening before marching to the Opera House where its sails were it up in blue and white in support of Israel.
In the end, the sails were only lit up for a short time and in muted colors. Israeli supporters largely stayed away, with some watching the illumination from the other side of Circular Quay.
There were scenes of chaos at the Opera House as the demonstration was hijacked by radical Muslims – some wearing black masks – who threw lit flares at police and chanted ‘f*** Israel’ and ‘f*** the Jews’ beneath the steps of the iconic harbourside venue.
At one point, there were even chants of ‘gas the Jews’. Daily Mail Australia witnessed a large crowd of men attempting to set light to an Israeli flag with firecrackers before stamping on it and tearing it to shreds.
Cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’ (God is great in Arabic) and ‘death to the Jews’ rang out as some members of the crowd swarmed towards the police barrier, brandishing torn pieces of the Israeli flag – despite the rally organizers calling for protesters to respect the police.
Over 100 cops formed a ring of steel along the steps of the Opera House and didn’t intervene when flares or other projectiles were thrown at them. Instead, they placed the lit flares in buckets of water as acrid smoke filled the air.
On Tuesday morning, Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke said police were looking at CCTV footage in an attempt to identify the flare-throwers. ‘I’m very disappointed in the strongest possible terms that people saw fit to utilize flares and what not,’ Assistant Commissioner Cooke said.
