A crackdown on pro-Palestine rallies due to police resourcing concerns has been criticised as “racist dog-whistling”.
A strong police presence accompanies the weekly rallies in multiple states, and NSW Premier Chris Minns says that has become an unacceptable drain on resources.
His suggestion that police should be allowed to deny permits for the demonstrations due to stretched resources has drawn the ire of several activist groups.
The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network said the overwhelming majority of Palestine solidarity protests over the past year had been peaceful expressions of solidarity and justice.
“By dog-whistling about policing these protests, Premier Minns obscures this reality and tries to criminalise those who are advocating for human rights,” president Nasser Mashni said.
“This must be called out for what it is – anti-Palestinian racism.
“But Premier Minns must know that we will not be silenced.”
The premier’s office declined to respond.
Mr Minns has ordered a review into the handling of the marches, citing figures that policing about 40 pro-Palestine rallies this year had cost roughly $5 million.
“If an application is made every single weekend, week after week after week, draining police resources and time and taxpayer money, police and taxpayers in the state are entitled to say we’ve got other things taking place,” he told reporters.
The premier’s language had been “divisive” and he was being selective in raising arguments, a spokesman for the Australian National Imams Council said.
“When he takes the steps he does and puts money and resources into court bids and diverting resources for reviews, it flies in the face of his concern about the financial impact,” council senior advisor Bilal Rauf told AAP.
“There is a deep connection (to) what is happening abroad – relatives of Australian citizens are being killed or injured.”
The Labor premier’s suggestion however won support from his usual opponents, with the NSW coalition urging him to go further and legislate a user-pay system.
“Every dollar that’s spent on policing serial protests is a dollar that could be going towards improving the lives of NSW families,” Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said.
Greens MP Sue Higginson said curtailing protests wasn’t the answer.
“The answer is stop deploying so many police resources,” she told AAP, describing the premier’s comments as “mad”.
“Is this only about pro-Palestine rallies or will he seek (to do) this to other rallies?”
There was a heavy police presence at Sunday’s protest when about 10,000 people congregated in Sydney’s Hyde Park after authorities ditched a court bid to shut the rally down.
A poll published in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald on Monday suggested a majority of Australians oppose the use of public protests to take sides in the Middle East conflict.
