The trial of Australian pro-Palestine protesters demonstrating against the visit of Israeli war criminal Isaac Herzog has exposed appalling, racist brutality by New South Wales police – and the force’s lies to try to justify the attack.
The protesters’ lawyer Nicolas Hanna said he was now able to release the footage because it had been accepted as evidence in the trial – despite attempts by the police to suppress it. He also explained how the footage showed NSW police falsely claiming the praying protesters were blocking their route:
A clearer view
However, while the footage can only officially be released in Australia now, a clearer video has been circulating on social media for some time. It clearly shows the protesters posed no threat and could easily have been passed as they made their sunset prayer:
‘Remarkable restraint’?
Police have also been filmed beating protesters then boasting about their violence. NSW police commissioner Mal Lanyon had claimed his officers showed “remarkable restraint” in their battering of peaceful protesters – including those praying and posing no threat whatever.
At least seventeen protesters still face prosecution for being victims of the unlawful police operation, as Australia follows the same pro-Israel playbook as the UK, Germany and other suborned governments. But they won an important victory in their case this week when the police commissioner’s attempt to withhold vital evidence in the case was thrown out by the judge: