New South Wales Police brutalised pro-Palestine protesters picketing SEC Plating in Belmore on June 27, arresting five people and hospitalising one.
It was the fourth picket of the facility, organised by the Weapons Out of the West (WoW) group, which campaigns against weapons' production in Western Sydney.
SEC Plating manufactures plating, engineering coatings and finishes for F-35 fighter jets used by Israel to conduct its genocide in Gaza. It has contracts with a number of weapons' manufacturers.
At the previous picket, protesters managed to delay workers from entering the site for two hours, before police arrived and moved them on. This time, a WoW spokesperson told Green Left that when the group of 50 pro-Palestine protesters approached the site, police were already waiting for them.
Police arrested one legal observer before the picket had even started. WoW said they were attempting to negotiate with police when one officer became “agitated” and the violence started.
Videos posted on social media show police dragging protesters across the ground, holding people by the neck and slamming them into fences.
Former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas was hospitalised with injuries to her eye and face “after being battered by two officers with no apparent cause”. She now needs surgery. One police officer reportedly said as she protested the violence: “That’s on you.” WoW said that medics were “barred by police from providing first aid”.
In a video posted on social media on June 30, Thomas thanked the community for their support, as well as the medical staff at Bankstown Hospital.
“I'm five foot one and weigh about 45 kilos,” Thomas said. “I was engaged in peaceful protest and my interactions with NSW Police have potentially left me without vision in my right eye, permanently.
“I look like this because of [NSW Premier] Chris Minns and [NSW police minister] Yasmin Catley and their draconian anti-protest laws and attempts to demonise protesters, especially protesters for Palestine. They have emboldened the police to crack down with extreme violence and brutality and they were warned that those laws would lead to this outcome.”
She added that her treatment by police is “nothing compared to what people in Gaza are going through because of Israel”.
Another protester was “illegally strip-searched in front of the crowd in the cold with no privacy”, WoW said. They were subsequently arrested, despite nothing incriminating being found.
Rising Tide activist Zack Schofield, who was also arrested, said Minns “can’t arrest his way out of the people objecting to genocide”, adding, “The excessive force used by police ... will be put into question.” A video released on social media shows Schofield attempting to clarify what laws police were using to shut the protest down before being grabbed and arrested.
Maritime Union of Australia Sydney branch organiser Shane Reside, another arrestee, said: “After witnessing the brutal assault committed against another member of the community, I called out the police for their actions and on that basis they then targeted me and I was arrested.”
Another protester said: “We refuse the funding, arming and support of the Zionist entities in our communities … A company heading towards insolvency and cowering from an angry community calls on the violence of the state to protect itself…”
Legal Observers NSW said police were seen “tackling individuals walking along the footpath to the ground and dragging one person on the concrete”. “A police officer placed their hands around the neck of one person to drag them backwards, causing them to be unable to breathe for about a minute, with serious bruising developing”.
They said police had issued move-on orders on the basis that individuals being near the location would cause “fear and alarm”. Police also said the protests were “unauthorised” because WoW had filled out a Notice of Intention to hold a public assembly, which is, in fact, not a prerequisite for holding a protest in NSW.
Legal Observers NSW said these are “not valid reasons for issuing a move-on order under the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002”.
Families for Palestine said Minns and Police Minister Yasmin Catley should “take accountability” for the actions of police. “This violence happened under your watch,” they said.
Palestine Action Group Sydney, which took NSW Labor to the Supreme Court over its draconian anti-protest laws, said: “Once again, the authorities who should be arresting those complicit in genocide, are instead those trying to stop it.”
The University of Sydney Students Representative Council called on NSW Police and Labor to “investigate, take accountability and stop their complicity in stifling protest against genocide” .
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi said the Minns government has “repeatedly undermined our civil liberties and vilified pro-Palestine, anti-genocide protesters ... Today’s events are a direct result of that dangerous political approach and this Labor government must be held accountable.”
Home affairs minister Tony Burke attempted to shift the blame for Thomas' injuries onto the protesters themselves, claiming that “no one is above the law”.
NSW Police initially refused to investigate the incident, with Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden claiming he had seen no evidence of misconduct on police body-worn camera footage. However, the next day, after mounting pressure, they declared it was a “critical incident”, meaning it will be investigated.
NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson, who wrote to Minns said there is now sufficient evidence “to confirm that the police have acted beyond the scope of their lawful powers”.
Higginson called for all charges against Thomas and the other arrestees to be withdrawn and for Minns to commit to repeal the anti-protest laws.
WoW said there was a lot of community support for the pickets, and that protesters would not be deterred by police violence and intimidation.
Meanwhile, in Naarm/Melbourne on June 29, Victoria Police pinned a trans woman facedown on concrete and drove a baton into her ribs.
[This article was updated on July 1. Legal Observers NSW are asking for any footage of the incident to be emailed to them at legalobserversnsw@protonmail.com]