Organisers of a Sydney Palestine solidarity protest — Commemorate Al-Nakba: Protest Against Israeli Apartheid! — released the statement below on May 12.
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NSW police initiated a Supreme Court action against the pro-Palestine Al-Nakba commemoration march to be held in Sydney on May 15. The police are seeking a court order prohibiting the public assembly and procession. Protest organisers state that they will not be intimidated and will defend the right to protest in court.
Independent journalist and author of My Israel Question, Antony Loewenstein, says: “The right to peacefully protest is a cornerstone of a democratic society. Supporting Palestinian rights is even more essential today in an age where our political and media elites choose to ignore Israeli apartheid right in front of their eyes.”
Sylvia Hale, Former Greens MLC, said: “It is critical, at a time when Israel has gaoled hundreds of Palestinians without charge or trial for protesting at Israel's illegal occupation of their land, that we show our support for them and the thousands of other political prisoners in Israeli gaols. Australia must cut all military ties with Israel until the Israeli government abides by international law and ends its racist policies of ethnic cleansing."
By attempting to ban the commemoration, the NSW police have shown they care more about assisting Israel in hiding from its past than upholding the democratic rights of Australian citizens.
May 15th marks the day of “The Catastrophe” ('Al-Nakba' in Arabic) where the state of Israel was created on the murder and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Within Israel, the state has attempted to silence protesters from speaking out against the oppression of the Palestinians and remembering this historic event. This has included intimidation and arrests of protestors and cutting funding of NGO’s involved in Al-Nakba events.
The march is planned for May 15 at Sydney Town Hall, beginning at 6pm. The rally will include speakers from the General Union of Palestinian Workers, Jews against the Occupation and many other pro-Palestinian activists.
A representative of the protest organisers has been summoned to a hearing at the Supreme Court at 10am on May 14 to contest the police actions.
