{"id":283617,"date":"2026-02-10T09:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/283617\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T09:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:27:08","slug":"australia-urges-calm-after-violent-clashes-in-sydney-during-israeli-presidents-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/283617\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia urges calm after violent clashes in Sydney during Israeli president’s visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

SYDNEY \u2014 Australian leaders on Tuesday urged calm and called for protests to remain peaceful after clashes between police officers and demonstrators opposing Israeli President Isaac Herzog<\/a>\u2019s visit to Australia<\/a> erupted in Sydney.<\/p>\n

Police said 27 people were arrested, including 10 accused of assaulting officers, after violence broke out Monday evening when police moved in to clear thousands of protesters who had gathered near Sydney\u2019s town hall.<\/p>\n

Protesters including an opposition lawmaker said Tuesday that they had been assaulted by officers.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese<\/a> said he was \u201cdevastated\u201d by the violence and urged protesters to express their views peacefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralians want two things. They don\u2019t want conflict brought here. They want killing to stop, whether it\u2019s Israelis or Palestinians, but they do not want conflict brought here,\u201d Albanese told radio station Triple M.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe causes are not advanced by these sorts of scenes \u2014 they are undermined.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were no reports of serious injuries, New South Wales state police said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"Image:Herzog in Sydney on Monday.George Chan \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thousands gathered in central Sydney on Monday to protest Herzog\u2019s visit to Australia, which comes after a mass shooting<\/a> at a Jewish religious event at Bondi Beach<\/a> in December that killed 15 people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police had been authorized to use rarely invoked powers during the protest, including directing crowds to move, restricting their entry to certain areas and searching vehicles. A legal challenge to those restrictions was dismissed by a Sydney court on Monday. Herzog was not present at the protest site.<\/p>\n

Television footage showed some protesters trying to push through blockades as officers forced them back. Some were seen lying on the ground while police tried to restrain them.<\/p>\n

Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"Image:A protester is helped after police used pepper spray to disperse demonstrators taking part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney on Monday.Saeed Khan \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns defended police actions, saying officers were required to make rapid decisions in tense and volatile situations, and urged calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand there\u2019s criticisms of New South Wales Police, I just want to make it clear they were caught in an impossible situation,\u201d he told a news conference.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Palestine Action Group Sydney said protesters were unable to leave the event because they were surrounded by police on all sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police began charging the crowd with horses, indiscriminately pepper spraying the crowd, punching and arresting people,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

Abigail Boyd, an opposition Green lawmaker in the state parliament, said she had been punched by officers while attempting to vacate the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a very sore arm and shoulder where they punched me. I\u2019m really in shock,\u201d she told a news conference.<\/p>\n

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said police actions were justified and that they showed restraint.<\/p>\n

\"Image:Police officers clashing with rally participants in Sydney on Monday.Darrian Traynor \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice did what they needed to do, which was to hold the line and then form and move the protesters back with a view to dispersing them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving an angry and violent mob marching on police is not a situation that I want our officers in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Lees, the head of Palestine Action Group Sydney, said supporters of the group would rally outside police headquarters in the city on Tuesday evening in response to Monday\u2019s clashes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SYDNEY \u2014 Australian leaders on Tuesday urged calm and called for protests to remain peaceful after clashes between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-283617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}