00:00The New South Wales Police Commissioner has today declared that the state's controversial protest restrictions will remain in place for another two weeks.
00:10Now that's the third time that the restrictions have been extended since they were enacted after they were rushed through Parliament after the Bondi terror attack in which a Jewish gathering was targeted and 15 people lost their lives.
00:23Now the Police Commissioner says that one of his main considerations around this are planned protests around the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
00:32He says that his focus is on ensuring that the Israeli President is safe and that the Jewish community is safe when that visit takes place next week.
00:42The Police Commissioner says that police are working with Commonwealth authorities to plan their security operation around that
00:51and they will mobilise more than 3,000 extra shifts to negotiate that visit.
00:56I would say now is a time for calm. I've made it really clear that we will work with protest organisers.
01:02Outside of the declared areas there is the ability to negotiate with organisers for a Form 1.
01:08I'd say the ability certainly sits there to balance free speech and for people to exercise free speech.
01:14But free speech comes with responsibility. This is a time for calm.
01:20This is a time for the community to come together. I understand there is animosity in some sections of the community towards President Herzog.
01:28It's inappropriate that that puts community safety at risk.
01:32Now the visit of the Israeli President has been met with stern opposition by many pro-Palestinian groups and many Palestinian Australians
01:40who say that Isaac Herzog represents a government that is in their argument guilty of war crimes and breaches of international law in Gaza and the West Bank.
01:52The protest groups have been planning an event in Town Hall which is just outside or within the zone that police have defined where these restrictions apply.
02:04But it's worth noting that these restrictions don't blanket ban all protests but it means that protests can't apply for an authorisation status in which they gain extra legal protections,
02:16particularly relevant when marching down the street.
02:20So the police commissioner said that a number of static rallies have been facilitated in Sydney within those zones since these restrictions were enacted.
02:30He didn't rule out whether those would or wouldn't be broken up during the visit of the Israeli President.
02:37He said that will be up to the behaviour of the protesters themselves, whether they break any other laws.
02:43Now those restrictions will be in place for another two weeks and we'll expect the police commissioner will make another announcement towards the end of that period as to whether they'll remain in place after that.
02:53Off to that.
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