Hundreds have rallied in Sydney in support of Palestine and chanted a phrase the premier has sought to ban on the eve of a new legislation preventing protests.
The New South Wales government was expected to pass a bill on Tuesday with the support of the Liberal party preventing rallies for up to three months in the wake of terror attacks.
A crowd of 300 at Sydney’s Town Hall observed a minute’s silence for the victims of the Bondi shooting and briefly chanted “globalise the intifada” at a protest some feared would be their last for months.
Chants followed an address by Sara Saleh, a human rights lawyer with Palestinian heritage, who condemned the shooting at Bondi but emphasised that she did not want any children to die like the attack’s youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda.
“That is precisely why I intend to keep saying, ‘Globalise the intifada, free Palestine,’” Saleh said.
The crowd cheered and for about 30 seconds chanted a phrase referring to inner Sydney’s Indigenous place name: “from Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada”.
Adam Adelour, a rally organiser and speaker, said intifada was an Arabic word meaning uprising, revolution or shaking-off.
“If there is more intifada against genocide, there will be less genocide,” Adelpour said.
The term intifada has described Palestinian uprisings against Israel, the first of which ran from 1987 to 1993 and the second from 2000 to around 2005. Jewish groups and leaders have described the phrase as a call to violence.
Chris Minns, the NSW premier, has warned chanting “globalise the intifada” may breach state law and said it would be banned in 2026, claiming it encouraged hate and violent acts such as Bondi’s shooting.
“We have to do everything we can to ensure that words that are said at a rally are not used by somebody at a later point for violent retribution on city streets,” he said.
Attendees held banners explaining the word “intifada” meant uprising and mocked the premier’s claim, with one woman turning to police and saying: “globalise the intifada – arrest me”.
At least 13 police officers were present at the rally but the only arrest was of a man who shouted at protesters.
Allon Uhlmann, a member of pro-Palestine group Jews against the occupation ‘48, told the rally Minns’ claims vilified those Jewish Australians and hundreds of thousands more who have marched in support of Palestine.
“We don’t want to be made human shields for Israel’s genocide and your complicity in it,” he said, addressing the premier.
Minns and police have asked people not to rally, a request already breached by an anti-immigration protest addressed by Barnaby Joyce on Sunday
Minns has justified his move to ban rallies in the wake of terrorist events on the grounds protest organisers were “unleashing forces that they can’t control”.
At Monday’s rally, Greens state MP Dr Amanda Cohn, whose grandparents fled the Holocaust, made an emotional address arguing the reforms would stop vulnerable people from uniting.
Michelle Berkon said Monday’s rally served as a vigil for Palestine advocates unwelcome at Bondi beach’s memorial site and unwilling to mourn at the site due to its Israeli flags. Berkon, a Jewish woman, was escorted from the memorial while wearing a keffiyeh the week prior.
One protester had pinned to her hat a knitted bee, a reference to the middle name of the victim Matilda. Two protesters carried olive branches, dozens wore keffiyeh and a handful wore face masks, which police will have greater powers to remove under Minns’ new tranche of legislation.
Many attendees, regulars at previous pro-Palestine events, stayed after the hour-long rally’s end to voice their frustration and eat together, with some warning they could soon be unable to legally gather under the new laws.
“There’s been so much real fear about what’s to come [and] we don’t know when we might be able to meet again,” said Koki, who did not give her surname.