{"id":651889,"date":"2026-10-20T08:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/651889\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T08:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T08:06:15","slug":"bodycam-video-shows-police-officer-shoving-herzog-protester-before-i-punched-him-in-the-head-boast-australian-police-and-policing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/651889\/","title":{"rendered":"Bodycam video shows police officer shoving Herzog protester before \u2018I punched him in the head\u2019 boast | Australian police and policing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bodycam footage from police patrolling an anti-Isaac Herzog protest earlier this year has been aired in a Sydney<\/a> court, including a clip showing the actions of an officer before he boasted, \u201cI punched him in the head when he was down\u201d.<\/p>\n

New South Wales police body-worn camera footage was leaked in September showing a male officer bragging to his colleagues during the 9 February rally outside Sydney town hall against the visiting Israeli president.<\/p>\n

In the leaked clip<\/a>, the officer could be heard stating: \u201cI fucking pumped that cunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, Downing Centre local court viewed new bodycam footage that showed what happened before those controversial comments.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Nick Hanna said the video, which shows the officer running at Wenzel Auch and pushing him to the ground, depicted an \u201cunlawful use of force\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Auch was charged with assaulting police but the charge was withdrawn in August.<\/p>\n

The court on Friday was also shown the viral clip that was leaked in September.<\/p>\n

Hanna told the judge: \u201cAuch was charged with assaulting \u2026 the very officer boasting about how he pumped him and punched him in the head when he was down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PreviouslyPreviously leaked video of officer boasting about punching protester\"NewNew bodycam footage shows protester being pushed to the ground<\/p>\n

Hanna is one of several lawyers representing 17 protesters charged after the anti-Herzog rally in Sydney. They are due to face a joint trial in July 2027.<\/p>\n

Bodycam footage aired on Friday in court was tendered as the defence seeks to access internal police documents ahead of the trial.<\/p>\n

Hanna told the court on Friday the videos showed a concerning \u201cpattern of conduct\u201d including unlawful arrests and unlawful use of force and capsicum spray. The 32-minute compilation was put together by the defence team and did not include all events leading up to clashes.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s hearing came after the NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, refused to release a number of internal documents the defence team had subpoenaed.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Judge Scott Nash ordered that NSW police provide the documents, which would include communications between police, the premier, other NSW cabinet ministers and their staff. The papers would also cover directions by senior police to officers.<\/p>\n

NSW police intend to challenge Monday\u2019s ruling on public interest immunity grounds. The failed attempt to block the release of documents was based on the defence application lacking a \u201cproper forensic foundation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Senior police unsuccessfully argued there was \u201cno evidentiary basis for supporting that political figures directed or improperly influenced operational police decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

During Friday\u2019s hearing, police dropped charges against a further seven protesters. In total, charges have now been dropped against 11 individuals.<\/p>\n

\u2018They\u2019ve had all day to pray\u2019<\/p>\n

In one video played to the court, Eyad Shadid \u2013 the first protester to have their charges withdrawn \u2013 can be seen standing between a line of advancing police and Muslim worshippers undertaking sunset prayers.<\/p>\n

He and other protesters are asking the police at town hall to stop because people are praying.<\/p>\n

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An officer responds \u201cthey\u2019ve had all day to pray\u201d before members of the prayer group are dragged away.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs any person familiar with fundamentals of Muslim religion would know that\u2019s an entirely misconceived opinion,\u201d Hanna told the court.<\/p>\n

\"BystandersBystanders ask police to stop advancing on Muslims undertaking sunset prayers\"NSWNSW police arrest protester who attempted to help Muslim men finishing sunset prayers<\/p>\n

Bodycam footage then shows Shadid being dragged to the ground by police. He was later charged with failing to comply with a police direction and resisting arrest before police withdrew the charges.<\/p>\n

Shadid is suing over the incident<\/a>, alleging police made \u201ca series of false accusations\u201d before charging him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Walk him in the shit\u2019<\/p>\n

In a separate video, bodycam footage shows a police officer saying \u201ctry to walk him in the shit\u201d after a protester was arrested.<\/p>\n

Hanna argued in court on Friday the comment referred to dragging the man through horse manure that was on the ground from the use of mounted police that evening.<\/p>\n

Auch was initially set to be part of the joint trial scheduled for July 2027, before his charge of assaulting the police was dropped.<\/p>\n

Outside court, Auch\u2019s lawyer, Majed Kheir, labelled the bodycam footage a \u201ccruel irony\u201d given his client was charged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say that I\u2019m shocked because I\u2019ve had the privilege of representing a number of people who found themselves in those circumstances,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A Law Enforcement Conduct Commission inquiry into allegations of police brutality at the Herzog rally has so far found<\/a> protesters were \u201clargely peaceful\u201d and there was \u201climited evidence of physical violence on the part of the protesters\u201d.<\/p>\n

In his opening address on behalf of Lanyon on Monday, David Sulan SC said there had been \u201can unprecedented level of serious verbal abuse \u2026 directed towards police\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite these difficulties, there were many positive acts of policing before and during the protest,\u201d Sulan said on behalf of the commissioner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bodycam footage from police patrolling an anti-Isaac Herzog protest earlier this year has been aired in a Sydney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-651889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651889","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=651889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}