{"id":934381,"date":"2026-10-20T01:26:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934381\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T01:26:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:26:19","slug":"new-footage-of-police-and-protester-clashes-at-sydney-town-hall-demonstration-seen-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/934381\/","title":{"rendered":"New footage of police and protester clashes at Sydney Town Hall demonstration seen in court"},"content":{"rendered":"

New footage has emerged in court of what protesters allege was unlawful force by police at a Sydney rally against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog.<\/p>\n

Adam Adelpour and 15 other protesters are set to face trial next year on charges including assaulting police at the Town Hall demonstration on February 9.<\/p>\n

The defence played dozens of videos in the local court on Friday to explain the relevance of certain documents police were avoiding giving the protesters.<\/p>\n

Hours of footage were cut into a 32-minute compilation for the court by the defence and not all the clips showed the moments leading up to the clashes.<\/p>\n

Solicitor Nick Hanna, representing some of the protesters, told the court the footage showed unlawful arrests and excessive force.<\/p>\n

In multiple videos, police could be seen grabbing protesters by the head or neck as they brought them to the ground.<\/p>\n

\"NSW<\/p>\n

Vision from Sydney protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog at Town Hall. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

‘They’ve had all day to pray’<\/p>\n

The montage included different angles of police forcibly moving on a group of men performing the Muslim sunset prayer<\/a>, a moment that went viral online.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

Mr Hanna said the CCTV showed a police officer had made a false statement by claiming the worshippers started praying after being told to disperse.<\/p>\n

“At some point before police start moving, you see that people are already praying,” he said.<\/p>\n

In police body-worn camera footage, protesters could be seen pleading with officers to allow the men to finish praying.<\/p>\n

\"nsw<\/p>\n

Some of the footage comes from police body-worn cameras. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

A female officer was heard saying, “They’ve had all day to pray”, before officers began to break up the group.<\/p>\n

In another clip, a male officer could be heard saying, “Try and walk him in the s**t”, as his colleagues led away a man in handcuffs.<\/p>\n

Mr Hanna said it was presumably a reference to the horse faeces left on the ground that night by mounted police.<\/p>\n

He said it constituted improper conduct because it was degrading and humiliating.<\/p>\n

Request for ministerial messages<\/p>\n

The defence team is trying to gain access to communications between senior officers and Premier Chris Minns, Police Minister Yasmin Catley, Sports Minister Steve Kamper and their staff.<\/p>\n

Other documents it has sought to subpoena include standard operating procedures for things like the use of capsicum spray.<\/p>\n

Sydney anti-Herzog protest hearings begin<\/a><\/p>\n

The Town Hall protest against the Israeli president’s visit to Sydney generated hundreds of complaints about police misconduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A NSW Police spokesperson said they were unable comment as the matter remained before the court.<\/p>\n

Barrister Bradley Dean, acting for Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, argued against the release of the material.<\/p>\n

“The subpoena is not an occasion for a fishing expedition,” Mr Dean said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, local court Judge Scott Nash ruled in favour of the protesters, agreeing the material had a “legitimate forensic purpose”.<\/p>\n

But whether all the documents will be released to the defence remains to be seen, with police also claiming public interest immunity over some categories.<\/p>\n

Probe into ‘directions police were given’<\/p>\n

Outside court on Monday, Mr Hanna told the ABC the police were going to great lengths to stop the defence from getting the documents.<\/p>\n

“We suspect [the police’s arguments] will involve a suggestion that to release these documents would be to jeopardise police operations and to reveal secrets that the public shouldn’t know,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Hanna said the alleged unlawful policing at the protest were not isolated acts carried out by individual officers.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nick Hanna is representing some of the protesters.\u00a0 (ABC News: Andrew Mangelsdorf)<\/p>\n

He said the defence would argue it reflected a coordinated police response that was “likely from the top down”.<\/p>\n

“We have sought the communications between Minns and other ministers and the police to really find out what directions were the police given,” Mr Hanna said.<\/p>\n

He said the defence hoped more charges would be dropped after police withdrew almost half of about 30 prosecutions.<\/p>\n

The matter is back in court on October 30, with trials expected to take place in July 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New footage has emerged in court of what protesters allege was unlawful force by police at a Sydney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[501068,64,63,1108,38809,501066,501063,501067,236131,24284,29925,44,501064,4277,36374,1158,501065,26293,670,501062,446,7813],"class_list":["post-934381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-adam-adelpour","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-court","tag-footage","tag-hearing-into-nsw-police-actions","tag-herzog-sydney-protest","tag-isaac-herzog-sydney-protest-february-9-2026","tag-israeli-president-isaac-herzog","tag-law-enforcement-conduct-commission","tag-local-court","tag-news","tag-nick-hanna","tag-nsw-police","tag-palestine-action-group","tag-police","tag-police-watchdog","tag-rally","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-town-hall-protest","tag-video","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}