Premier warns October 7 vigil organisers

Premier Ben Carroll has warned that police will act to protect the public if an antizionist vigil honouring Palestinian “martyrs” goes ahead at the State Library of Victoria on October 7.

“October 7 was the biggest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. That date belongs to the victims,” Carroll said.

“If this event proceeds, police will take the steps necessary to protect the public.

“Our anti-vilification laws are clear: break them and you will be dealt with under the law.”

The Free Palestine Coalition Naarm has invited the public to a “vigil sit-in service” at the library from 10am to 5pm, followed by an hour-long commemoration program. In a social media post, the group said the event would honour “Palestinian martyrs of the Zionist genocide” and urged attendees to light a candle, lay a poppy and pray “for an end to the genocide and all colonial and imperialist wars”.

Victoria Police confirmed it is aware of the vigil.

“Police are monitoring the event and will have a response available to prevent breaches of the peace and ensure community safety,” a spokesperson said.

There is no permit system for public protests, vigils or rallies in Victoria, and police have no power to prevent them as long as they are lawful and peaceful.

Police will conduct dedicated patrols of prominent Jewish locations across the state on October 7, recognising the significance of the date for the Jewish community.

Jewish Community Council of Victoria president Philip Zajac said the group had held a similar event on the same date last year, after then-premier Jacinta Allan labelled the plans “deeply disrespectful” and “deeply inappropriate”.

“They wilfully ignored these requests and went ahead regardless. This tells us a lot about the character of those behind it; they have zero compassion, zero sensitivity and are determined to be provocative,” he said.

Zajac said the community would instead spend the day “solemnly mourning the loss of innocent Jewish, Muslim, Bedouin, Druze, Buddhist and Christian lives at the hands of calculated terrorists”.

Liberal MP for Caulfield David Southwick said holding a vigil to honour “martyrs” on the anniversary of the Hamas attack was “outrageous”.

“Royal Commissions and hate laws offer little comfort to the Jewish community if the Government turns a blind eye to events like this,” he said.

“A Liberal Government will introduce move-on laws and protest permits, so Victoria Police have the powers they need to keep our community safe.”

Labor’s candidate for Caulfield at the upcoming state election, Mikaela Stafrace, said she found the choice of date “deeply distressing”.

Describing herself as “the only Jewish woman standing as a candidate in this election”, Stafrace said she supported Israel’s right to exist and a two-state solution that would give Palestinians a state of their own.

She noted that more than 1,200 people were murdered on October 7 and 251 taken hostage, of whom only 168 were returned alive.

Stafrace, who was in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square when the impending release of the hostages was announced, said she did not dispute that Palestinian civilians had suffered immense loss, which deserved to be mourned openly.

“To hold a public commemoration of Palestinian losses on this date … does not read to me as an act of shared grief. It reads as a statement that lacks compassion and humanity. It is provocative and cruel,” she said.

“But grief that is timed, deliberately, to coincide with someone else’s day of trauma is not neutral. It asks a community already carrying fear, to carry that trauma again, in public, in our own city.”

She put two questions to the organisers: “How does holding this event on this day contribute to peace? Who is meant to feel less alone because of it?”

“Community is not built by choosing the date most likely to wound your neighbours,” she said.

The AJN contacted the Free Palestine Coalition Naarm for comment but had not received a response by our deadline.