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Liam Parry speaking to reporters<\/p>\nA protest was held on Wednesday outside the Roma Street Magistrates Court in Brisbane against the arrest and prosecution of a Palestine solidarity activist for saying the prohibited anti-genocide slogan \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d at a pro-Palestine rally on March 1.<\/p>\n
Liam Parry speaking to reporters<\/p>\n
Liam Parry is the first person to be charged for reciting a banned expression under \u201chate speech\u201d laws\u2014which also proscribe the phrase \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d\u2014introduced on March 1 by Queensland\u2019s right-wing Liberal National Party (LNP) state government.<\/p>\n
He is facing one count of reciting or publicly displaying a prohibited expression that is supposedly \u201creasonably expected to menace, harass or offend a member of the public.\u201d If convicted, Parry could face up to two years\u2019 imprisonment.<\/p>\n
Outside the courthouse, protesters chanted \u201cfree Palestine\u201d and \u201cCrisafulli you can\u2019t hide, protesting is not a crime\u201d\u2014a reference to state Premier David Crisafulli.<\/p>\n
Addressing the media after the court hearing, which was adjourned to a later date, Parry presented the case as a Queensland issue. He said: \u201cI think it\u2019s an important moment in Queensland right now. The government is trying to criminalise pro-Palestine advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked how he felt facing a possible jail term, Parry said: \u201cIt feels surreal, and I think it\u2019s a dangerous moment in Queensland politics that you could face two years\u2019 imprisonment just for saying six words.\u201d<\/p>\n
In reality, the federal and state Labor governments are spearheading a police-state crackdown on dissent, not just the LNP government in Queensland. That was clearly displayed in the New South Wales (NSW) Labor government\u2019s banning of marches in Sydney and the unleashing of\u00a0police\u00a0violence<\/a>\u00a0on protests against the February 9 visit by Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the invitation of the federal Albanese Labor government.<\/p>\n Since that police rampage at the Sydney Town Hall, the Labor governments in both NSW and Victoria have presided over intimidating police raids to arrest protesters against the ongoing US-Israeli genocide in Gaza and the Albanese government\u2019s complicity in the genocide.<\/p>\n On March 26, heavily-armed NSW police commandos stormed the home of a woman who had joined the large anti-Herzog demonstration. She was dragged out of bed at 5 a.m. and handcuffed after the police smashed open her front door. At least four similar raids were mounted across Sydney, with the protest participants charged with serious offences, such as affray and intimidating or assaulting police, some punishable by years of imprisonment.<\/p>\n The next day, on March 27, Victorian riot police in full combat gear conducted eight early morning raids on homes around Melbourne to detain eight women who had taken part in a March 6 anti-genocide protest against the Albanese government outside the Victorian Trades Hall building.<\/p>\n The women were held for hours before being released on anti-democratic bail conditions, also facing serious charges such as criminal damage to property and behaving in a riotous manner in a public place.<\/p>\n One of the most politically revealing features of the Victorian police operation, conducted under Labor Premier Jacinta Allan\u2019s government, was that Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari called in the police<\/a> and supplied them with photos of the women.<\/p>\n These raids are a warning that the Labor governments, state and federal, are escalating their assault on anti-genocide and anti-war opposition as the US-Israeli onslaught extends to Iran and Lebanon, with the political and material backing of the Albanese government.<\/p>\n But no mention of these raids was made at Wednesday\u2019s rally, with speakers focused instead on denouncing the LNP state government.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774339752_422_2f94a743-ac1d-47ab-849f-376aee4f9c78.png\"\/)
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