Police planned to disperse the crowd at a Sydney protest against the visiting Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, if it exceeded 6,000 people, according to correspondence between senior New South Wales public servants. The messages released under freedom of information (FoI) laws contain information not referenced in public comments by the NSW premier, Chris Minns, and the police commissioner, Mal Lanyon.
They have said police only moved to disperse the demonstrators at Sydney’s town hall after they sought to march in defiance of “major events” and public assembly restrictions. Several pro-Palestine protesters have been charged with public order offences after the violent clashes between police and demonstrators on 9 February.
The independent police watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc), is investigating alleged police brutality. Several protesters have said they will launch civil claims against NSW police.
In messages from the night on the encrypted messaging app Signal, the secretary of the NSW premier’s department, Simon Draper, wrote to the deputy secretary, Kate Meagher, at 5.42pm. “What’s the view from POC Kate Meagher?
Numbers? Static?” Draper wrote, according to the chat released under FoI laws.