Supreme Court allows pro-Palestine protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge to go ahead

ABC NEWS (Australia)

It's a legal victory that's been credited to 'people power'. Protesters have been given the all clear to march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge tomorrow in support of Palestinians. A supreme court judge decided the public interest in freedom of expression outweighed the safety risks posed by the rally.

Transcript

00:00The protesters who stood up to the police commissioner and won.

00:08This victory has been won through people power.

00:14Police sought an order prohibiting the rally across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, arguing

00:18the wider powers it would give officers would enable better crowd control.

00:22Justice Belinda Rigg rejected that.

00:24The judge accepted the event would be safer with many months of planning, but held it

00:28was not practical in these circumstances.

00:31The public interest and freedom of expression at this time, in the manner contemplated for

00:35the reasons advanced, is very high.

00:37Look, the decision is accepted by the government.

00:41We follow the laws of the day and the Supreme Court has told us to allow this to occur, so

00:45we will.

00:47Despite the New South Wales Premier's opposition to the rally taking place on the landmark,

00:51five of his own MPs plan to march.

00:54Australia is a critical ally of Israel.

00:58Those who think that we can't make a difference are wrong.

01:01Former Premier and Foreign Minister Bob Carr will join the crowd.

01:05The key message out of a walk on the Harbour Bridge that will be picked up in the world's

01:10media is this.

01:11The nationalists in Israel have got to let food and medicine through to a population that is

01:17being killed off, a genocidal condition.

01:20Whilst the Jewish Council backed the rally, the state's peak Jewish body voiced disappointment

01:25at the court's decision.

01:27The bridge will shut to vehicles for at least several hours, cutting one of Sydney's main

01:31traffic arteries.

01:32Whilst the tunnels under the harbour will remain open, drivers are urged to avoid unnecessary

01:37crossings, with heavy congestion expected.

01:40I think it will be at least 50,000 people.

01:42With this judgement, it could be more.

01:43What we think will be the largest anti-war march in Australia's history.

01:48Organisers have likened it to demonstrations against the Vietnam War and the 2003 protest

01:53against the US invasion of Iraq, which drew a crowd of about half a million in Sydney.

01:59And with a world famous stage secured, tomorrow's march may also enter the history books.

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