Sydney’s anti-Herzog rally – snipers, a police riot, and defiance

Written by: Lindy Nolan on 12 February 2026

 

(Source: www.newsandcams.com)

In the leadup to Sydney’s rally against Israeli war criminal Isaac Herzog, it was clear to this writer that police would attack protesters at some stage.
They tried for over two years to cause trouble, to ‘prove’ those marching for justice around the country are dangerous, bringing trouble here from overseas. But strict organisation and discipline, loud opposition to antisemitism, and the presence at every rally of Jewish organisations and people (including holocaust survivors and their families) ensured they didn’t succeed. 

 Fascist-leaning laws were strengthened in the days before Monday’s protest, when a special event, usually reserved for sporting events, was declared. Stop and search powers and move on orders were announced. Carrying a flag or placard was made illegal and $5000 fines applied for not carrying ID in a restricted zone. 

Nearly 90 years after Australian Attorney General (and later PM) Robert Menzies met Hitler and declared he was good for Germany and the German people, and that it would be good if Australians behaved more like Germans, NSW Premier Minns outdid himself in grovelling to a mass murderer.

Minns deliberately created fear, telling people to work from home, to avoid the city, that public transport would be disrupted and people may not be able to get home. That it would not be safe. As if the protest were a natural disaster.

In response to the Palestine Action Group (PAG) legal challenge, police provided an unsigned briefing to the minister which failed to state NSW Police was the promoter of the special event. Ten minutes before the rally was to commence, they miraculously provided correct details in a signed version. 

The protest in Town Hall Square was declared illegal. Minns said 3000 cops stationed in Sydney to protect Herzog would be at Town Hall. Pictures have now emerged of snipers stationed above the Square. We are clearly the enemy.

The protest was big, but not huge. Many were intimidated to stay away, and show support in other ways. Many were blocked from entering. Yet, thousands defied Minns and filled Town Hall Square anyway. They were disciplined, brave and full of spirit. 

First Peoples adjust tactics to suit the circumstances

A First Peoples’ speaker said, ‘They try every attack on us first.’ They understand too well what it’s like to be on the receiving end of police violence. 

First Peoples have made compromises to ensure protests are big and powerful. During Covid they were told there could be no protest on January 26. They knew they had enough active support, and refused to comply. Instead, they agreed not to march, but the huge Sydney Domain was full of socially-distanced groups. 

Police attacked a small group as they walked to the station, just as they attacked another group at Central Station after the first huge Black Lives Matter protest during Covid. Those attacks ensured ‘demonstrator violence’, not Aboriginal deaths in custody, became headlines.

Before Invasion Day 2026, First Peoples determined to rally and march with or without police permission. They agreed to police conditions to rally in Hyde Park and march along an altered route. 30,000 attended. 

Much of First Peoples’ staggering achievement in resisting British and settler invasion in almost 140 years of guerrilla warfare is documented in Ray Kerkhove’s brilliant How They Fought. It doesn’t include Pemulwuy’s attack in Sydney Town itself, on the George Street where Monday’s attack. took place.

Probably dragging hidden spears gripped in their toes, they made a lightning attack, retreating into sunset’s blinding light with no losses. 

Just as First Peoples adjust their tactics to suit the circumstances, we need to think about doing the same.

The same offer of a rally and march to Central Station was made to PAG, who refused, stating they wanted more visibility than a park in the dark, though sunset wasn’t till almost two and a half hours after the rally’s start. 

A host of unions sponsored the Harbour Bridge March. This time only the MUA did so. The NSW Teachers Federation has for decades supported Palestine and ensured its biggest flags flew over the biggest union contingent at every protest since October 2023. Its members were there in numbers on Monday, but not under union flags or with union authority.

Yet those aerial images of Town Hall Square and its surrounds were powerful. There were certainly many more people than the 7000 Zionists welcomed to the International Convention Centre, with all Sydney City Hotels allegedly booked out by the NSW Government.

History’s sweep

On Monday night, encouraged by several speakers, thousands chanted, ‘Whose streets? Our streets!’ 

There was no leadership, no guidance, no training. That’s a huge problem.  

Calling, ‘Let us march! Let us march!’ they spontaneously confronted a wall of police on George Street. They were held at bay, until many had dispersed. Trained and armed police were always going to win. 

After a stand-off, smaller marches flowed like water in directions where there were no police. A large group who marched to Central Station, knowing nothing of the carnage behind, were elated at their success.

Another lesson? Despite being Aboriginal Land, the streets and everything else are – until we can overthrow it – the property of the ruling class. Capitalism’s iron fist, its laws, police, courts, jails and even military, aim to ensure it. 

If our protests are big enough, determined enough and organised enough to seize the streets temporarily, it’s a victory. 

(77-year old James Ricketson being brutalised during Sydney's anti-Zionist protests by the city's militarised police)

 

Many people were traumatised by police violence last night. They didn’t expect the brutality of the attacks, the pepper spray of the elderly and small children, the bashing of people praying or with their hands in the air. Breaking a grandmother’s back in four places, ignoring her agony.  At the Harbour Bridge protest police turned protesters back, with police chief’s ridiculously presenting themselves as our protectors, citing ‘danger of a crowd crush’ when the crowd was orderly, calm and patient. On Monday night police created a terrifying crush with military precision. 

It’s an old tactic. They did it in the second Vietnam Moratorium here, and before the Iraq War, against school students in the Books not Bombs protest. 
Monday was way more.  Australians have learned a new verb, ‘kettling’. On Monday night, police systematically confined people in four separate groups before attacking. 

And they learned about the men in black, the riot squad, physically hyped up, like players before the World Cup, ready to attack. Even some of the men in blue were overheard saying, ‘What the hell are they doing???’

Riot squad members are volunteers. Many sported moustaches identical to a prominent Australian Nazi. 

People don’t forget such images or vicious lessons. It broadcast across the country. It’s changed things. 

Who are we here for?

We have to ask before, during and after protests, why are we here? Who are we here for? What is our primary purpose? 

On Monday night, although Palestine was front and centre of most speeches, the protest itself, and police violence, became the media message. 

On Monday night Netanyahu announced Palestine would cease to exist from the river to the sea, as the bombings, bulldozing and genocide continue. 

On Monday night, Four Corners showed ASIO had failed to protect Jewish and other Australian people from terrorists they had been warned about. Despite its $600 million budget last year, apologists cried poor unchallenged by the reporter.  

On Monday night, Four Corners reiterated the police refusal to send officers to protect the festival at Bondi. Yet they can send thousands to police to smash demonstrators. 

In history’s broad sweep

The 300,000 March for Humanity across Sydney Harbour Bridge gave inspiration across the world. 

It terrified the ruling class. Its state machine always resorts to force when threatened by such a movement. 

Growing numbers who confronted police on Monday night have lost their fear, or act despite it. They understand, in history’s sweep the masses in action are stronger than the state and its police, that we are many and they are few. But that’s a strategic assessment, not an immediate tactical one.

Though the attack by two terrorists at Bondi emboldened the ruling class and Zionism to build more active and organised community support, the majority of Australians have seen the horrific truth too clearly. Support for Palestine is as strong as ever. Now the police have exposed their brutality for all to see.

In the Frontier Wars, only once did Aboriginal warriors take on the murderous invader front on. The Kalka Dunga (Kalkadoon), after years of guerilla warfare, determined to protect their most sacred site with their lives. They lined up and faced an overwhelming force. Even brutal racists acknowledged their bravery.

A small group has led these protests. They’ve had successes and inevitable failures. But they’ve refused to consult about tactics or anything else. 

Rising Tide has successfully blockaded and shut down Australia’s biggest coal port using guerrilla tactics. While one group occupies police attention, another seizes the opportunity elsewhere. Rising Tide provides systematic and thorough training both to minimise arrests and make those that happen worthwhile.

Everyone works in teams that suit their strengths. They provide safe and culturally vibrant protest places. We need to learn from them. 

Just as at Bondi, many people on Monday night rendered assistance. Teachers remained in the Square to provide support. Shopkeepers provided refuge and other help. This can be systematically built upon. 

We need to create more active community engagement beyond the punishing weekly rallies. The Vietnam Moratoriums succeeded in ending our involvement in Vietnam and ending conscription. It had just three major rallies over one year. It gave time and energy to build in every other mass space.

That’s already happening now, but can we expand on it? 

Above all, in the 1970s workers stopped work to stop the war. They provided the leadership that young people expanded upon. We are in such a different situation now, after 50 years of deliberate ruling class disorganisation and disempowerment of the working class.

We need to build anti-imperialist understanding and organisation for peace in unions and among workers. Unions need to speak out and organise about Palestine, about rising fascism, about police violence.

We also have to join the dots, to give meaning and understanding to scattered and unsystematic ideas and experiences. In that way, with eyes open, we can chart a forward path with optimism.

The ground’s fertile. From negative things, positive can grow. 

 

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