Minister’s threat to offensive protesters: ’The police will arrest you’
'I put them on notice right here and right now', NSW Police Minister says of anti-Israel protesters
NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley has put anti-Israel protesters on notice in comments made exclusively to The AJN.
The minister, together with her family and Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon attended Sydney’s Emanuel Synagogue on Friday to join the Shabbat evening service, four nights after demonstrators lit flares, burned Israeli flags and chanted “f**k the Jews” and “gas the Jews” at the Sydney Opera House.
“The most important thing is that the Jewish community in this city feel safe. And we will do absolutely everything that we can to ensure their safety,” Catley said.
Addressing the “strength of force” the police have planned for an anti-Israel rally to take place in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Sunday, she said the behaviour displayed at the Opera House, which made headlines around the world, was “unacceptable and this government will not tolerate it”.
“Given that it is the same group that are organising for Sunday, I put them on notice right here and right now: If you come into our beautiful city, and if you come in there with fear, intimidation and violence, then the police will arrest you,” she said.
Police Deputy Commissioner of Metropolitan Field Operations Mal Lanyon, the head of Operation Shelter, which was launched by NSW Police on Wednesday to ensure community safety in response to any future protest activity, told The AJN, “ The incidences we saw on Monday night were completely unacceptable down at the Opera House. Police planning for protests from here forward obviously will take those events into account.”
Operation Shelter was launched by NSW Police on Wednesday to ensure community safety in response to any future protest activity.
The operation will coordinate high-visibility policing operations at protest activity as well as engage with various community groups to make decisions about protest activity in the interest of public safety, NSW Police said in a statement.
The operation will also oversee Strike Force Mealing, which has been established to further investigate any offences that may have been committed at Monday’s protest, which began at Town Hall before making its way to the Sydney Opera House forecourt.
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