There were the doomsdayers, the moaners, and, let’s face it, the ill-wishers, hoping that a march across one of the most famous bridges in Australia would not take place. Despite this, some 100,000 people attended the March for Humanity gathering, which began in Sydney’s central business district on August 3rd, before crossing to the Sydney Harbour Bridge to North Sydney—the pressing topic: a demand to end the barbarous conflict in Gaza. Instances of drama, violence, and mayhem were conspicuously lacking. “There was nothing of the sort; there was a beautiful, peaceful mass protest without any incidents,” said Palestine Action Group organiser Joshua Lees.
The number of those attending is not clear, though they far exceeded what organisers envisaged. The PAG claims that the numbers may well have been as high as 300,000; NSW police put it at 90,000. It would have never taken place had the NSW Labor government had its way. Premier Chris Minns had vocally opposed the protest, claiming in a statement on July 28 that his government could not “support a protest of this scale and nature taking place on Sydney Harbour Bridge, especially with one week’s notice”. The city could not be allowed to “descend into chaos.” This apocalyptic drivel was unsurprising given NSW’s continuing dislike of lawful assembly and peaceful protest.
The NSW police had also sought, and failed, to obtain a prohibition order in the state Supreme Court. The order would not have banned attendees from the protest but would have removed any protections from prosecution under various laws, including the blocking of roads and traffic. On August 2, Justice Belinda Rigg explained her reasons for rejecting the police request, citing the compelling case advanced by Lees. “The public interest in freedom of expression at this time, in the manner contemplated for the reasons advanced, is very high.” Ditto that of “not being disrupted or having safety risked”. But imposing a year’s planning schedule, or that of many months was “not a practical reality in the circumstances in which this particular exercise of freedom of expression is sought to be achieved.” Rigg was also reassured by PAG’s “commitment to and experience in prosocial protest, the expertise of their organisers and marshals, and the significant history of their active communication and co-operation with police.”
The approach from the police was typically jittery, nervous, and worried. “I can honestly say in my 35 years of policing that was a perilous situation,” reflected acting Assistant Commissioner Adam Johnson. “I was honestly worried that we were going to have a major incident with potential loss of life.” He went on to insist that any reservations on his part and those of his fellow officers had nothing to do with being against the protest but the dictates of public safety. “Quite clearly, today showed us that we had to scramble … We had to really think about how we could get people safely out of that confined space and back into the city safely.”
At around 3 pm, the march was halted, with protestors told that they had to turn around and return to the CBD. According to Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna, “We could not get those people, the number, the significant size of that crowd off the northern egress route without risking crowd crush.” While regarding the operation “a success in that no one was hurt,” he was not recommending a rerun “every Sunday at that short notice.”
The numbers also left the New South Wales Police Minister Yasmin Catley worried. What mattered to her was the cool organising of an event, free of risk and passion. It did not matter to her whether the subject matter entailed protesting against dead children, famine, or grotesque foreign wars; what mattered was good organisation on the home front. “Something of this magnitude would take absolute months, many months [to plan]. In fact, the [Sydney] marathon takes at least 10 months to organise the logistics to ensure that it happens without incident.” How wrong she and the police commissioners proved to be.
Senator David Shoebridge of the Greens thought this display of support for Palestinians and a swift conclusion of the conflict was more emphatic than anything done by the federal government in response to the crisis. “Over 100,000 Australians marched across the symbolic heart of Sydney today, and together we showed more leadership on one rainy afternoon than our PM and Foreign Minister have shown in 2 years from the comfort of their offices.” In somewhat mangled words in the Guardian Australia, Sarah Malik gave the impression attendees had fought off a supernatural event: “The rain couldn’t stop us.” This “felt like a collective wave of energy, hope and determination against institutional and governmental intransigence, denial, obfuscation and enabling that has so many of us feeling despairing, disgusted and disquieted.”
The display of flag waving, placards, and banners was impressive. But such events can risk becoming objects isolated from tangible fruition. Those participating can then claim that this was the first event to shift the tide, or an event that finally convinced those decision makers that something should be done. Marches can provide murmurs and trembles. They do not necessarily shake the edifice or threaten foundations. What the march across the bridge revealed to the Albanese government was that something critical must be done beyond platitudes that claim balance and eschew anger. His political strategists will be taking note.
In a modest way, the protest most probably encouraged Canberra’s approval of an additional A$20 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza. But the hardened sceptics suspicious of lawful assembly remain, none more so than Minns himself. For the state premier, people surely had better things to do than worry and vent in public about humanitarian issues in a distant conflict. Think about the economics of the whole thing instead: “We can’t shut down the bridge every weekend”. And just to sour matters, he publicly stated that legislation that would ban protests across the Harbour Bridge had not been ruled out. How woefully predictable.
The post Foiling the Anti-Protest Sceptics: The Pro-Palestinian Sydney Harbour Bridge March first appeared on Dissident Voice.
This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Binoy Kampmark.