{"id":283984,"date":"2026-02-10T14:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/283984\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T14:15:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T14:15:14","slug":"police-use-of-violence-disturbing-and-disappointing-at-sydney-rally-against-israeli-president-experts-say-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/283984\/","title":{"rendered":"Police use of violence \u2018disturbing\u2019 and \u2018disappointing\u2019 at Sydney rally against Israeli president, experts say | Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New South Wales policing expert who participated in the Sydney rally against the Israeli president\u2019s visit has called the police response \u201cdisappointing\u201d and said violent clashes with protesters<\/a> could have been prevented.<\/p>\n

Dr Luke McNamara attended the protest outside town hall in the CBD on Monday to oppose Isaac Herzog\u2019s Australian tour, from which footage emerged showing officers repeatedly punching protesters<\/a> and using pepper spray at close range.<\/p>\n

The premier, Chris Minns<\/a>, on Tuesday called the response \u201cproportionate\u201d and defended controversial restrictions that gave police enhanced move-on powers and effectively banned protesters from marching from town hall to state parliament.<\/p>\n

Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n

McNamara said the violence was, in his view, \u201cthe direct consequence\u201d of the \u201cunreasonable conditions\u201d the government had imposed on the protesters that had \u201ceffectively quarantined\u201d them inside a police containment line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen some of those present decided to push the limits of the police willingness to allow them to engage in a procession, it seems to me that\u2019s when the confrontation started,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose events are likely never to have happened if police had permitted, indeed if the government had permitted, protesters to exercise their lawful right to protest.\u201d<\/p>\n

McNamara, who teaches at the University of NSW\u2019s law faculty, said police should use physical force \u201cextremely rarely\u201d in protests and only when a crowd was out of control and perpetrating or threatening violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not what happened last night,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

McNamara said he had watched footage of a man being repeatedly punched in the body by police, and of a group of praying Muslims being \u201cdragged away\u201d by officers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said there appeared to be \u201cno reason\u201d that level of force was necessary.<\/p>\n

The premier has said police were \u201crepeatedly confronted\u201d by people attempting to breach the containment line and the officers shouldn\u2019t be judged on \u201c15-second social media posts\u201d without the full context of each incident.<\/p>\n

Associate Prof Dr Vicki Sentas, another policing expert at UNSW, said the available footage appeared to depict \u201ca case study in disturbing and unnecessary police violence\u201d.<\/p>\n

She was also concerned that there had been \u201cpoor and dangerous crowd control\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018Lawful use of force\u2019 questioned<\/p>\n

While Sentas said each incident would need to be reviewed, overall the police response did not appear to meet the legal criteria for lawful use of force.<\/p>\n

She said there were \u201ccredible allegations of excessive police force\u201d and it would be appropriate for the NSW police watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc), to investigate.<\/p>\n

The NSW police use of force manual, which outlines how and when officers can deploy weapons such as pepper or OC spray but also \u201chands on\u201d forms of policing, is not publicly available. <\/p>\n

But a copy of it was published in 2023 by the Lecc.<\/p>\n

The manual states that police \u201cshould use no more force than is reasonably necessary to exercise your policing functions.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are personally responsible for any force you use and must be able to justify it,\u201d the manual said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must not use force to inflict punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vincent Hurley, a former NSW police senior detective, said he would want to see what happened in the \u201c30 seconds before\u201d each clip of the violent clashes shared online before determining whether the use of force was excessive.<\/p>\n

\"VideoVideo shows police repeatedly punching man at Sydney anti-Herzog protests \u2013 video<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly complex and it\u2019s a no-win situation for anybody,\u201d said Hurley, now a criminology lecturer at Macquarie University.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the surface of it \u2026 I think I can see how the police believed they were justified in using that force.\u201d<\/p>\n

A redacted NSW manual on pepper spray, released under Government Information Public Access (Gipa) laws in 2021, says using defensive sprays of the weapon may be used for \u201cprotection of human life\u201d, as a \u201ca less than lethal option for controlling people, where violent resistance or confrontation occurs (or is likely to occur)\u201c, and protection against animals.<\/p>\n

The use of force manual specifies \u201cweaponless control\u201d as an option for police, but does not specify what that control can involve. It can involve punches or strikes, which are sometimes designed to achieve compliance or distraction.<\/p>\n

The manual also encourages police to constantly reassess their use of force, even in challenging circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the nature of their duties, police put themselves in harm\u2019s way to deal with some of the most dangerous and reprehensible criminals.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt times you will find it difficult to remain composed and considered in your actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, it is the role of the police to uphold the rule of law. You must do so with professionalism and integrity, treating people with decency and respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A red mist of rage\u2019<\/p>\n

A recent court case considered how to assess whether the force used by a police officer was \u201creasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2018, four NSW police officers were involved in an incident in which a 16-year-old boy was tasered, hit with OC spray, and repeatedly struck with a baton.<\/p>\n

One of the officers was charged with common assault after it was argued that six of the 18 times he struck the youth with a baton were not \u201creasonably necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n

A 2022 supreme court decision said the prosecution case was that the officer\u2019s judgment had been clouded by a loss of self-control borne of frustration and anger, known in policing as \u201ca red mist of rage\u201d.<\/p>\n

The officer, who left the force by the time of the hearing, argued that the contested baton strikes were a proportionate response to an outburst by the youth, who was drug affected, and was intended to bring him back under control with \u201cpain compliance\u201d.<\/p>\n

The former officer was later cleared of the charge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New South Wales policing expert who participated in the Sydney rally against the Israeli president\u2019s visit has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-283984","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\/283984","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=283984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}