Police and demonstrators clash at Sydney Town Hall

Thousands have gathered outside Town Hall in an at times violent demonstration against Israeli President Isaac Herzog, after a court rejected a bid to strip police of enhanced powers granted during his visit to Sydney.

The crowd on Monday night, many waving Palestinian flags and holding signs critical of Herzog, spilled onto the streets surrounding Town Hall, with a number of people arrested.

Punches were thrown and capsicum spray used on dozens of demonstrators as police moved the crowd away. Others were thrown to the ground, and some were trampled as police officers and horses pushed the crowd towards Bathurst Street.

The clashes came as protesters sought to march towards NSW Parliament, while police blocked the crowd and ordered them to disperse.

In the crowd, protesters helped each other flush their eyes, while others were pinned to the ground or dragged into police vans.

In the moments before the rally descended into chaos and violence, Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees addressed the angry crowd.

“We’re going to take back our streets and demand freedom,” he declared.

“People are getting arrested and pepper sprayed in front of us … this is a bloody outrage.”

Lees told the Herald people were “bashed” and “attacked” by police as they tried to leave after being told to disperse.

“The police just started charging in with horses and pepper spray and [were] bashing people and arresting people and they were telling everyone to disperse but they couldn’t go anywhere because they were boxed in on all sides,” he said.

“All they had to do was facilitate a march.”

In footage captured earlier in the protest, organisers spoke with police about how to disperse the crowd, suggesting allowing a march to Hyde Park was the safest way to clear the area, while a senior officer insisted no march would take place.

“We could have marched and dispersed from the park, which is exactly what we were saying. They refused. Instead, they piled us in and attacked people,” Lees said.

In video posted to social media, a group of men pausing to pray are dragged away by advancing police.

The shocking footage was deeply disturbing and entirely unacceptable, the Australian National Imams Council said in a statement.

“Police are entrusted to protect the community, uphold public safety, and de-escalate tensions, not to interfere with religious worship or inflame an already sensitive situation.”

NSW Greens MP Sue Higginson, who attended the protest, said police were “brutal, unnecessary and violent”.

“I saw young women being thrown against the wall, Aboriginal people detained and tear gas used indiscriminately,” she said.

“The police were clearly emboldened to be violent. There is a lot of footage of dreadful police violence.”

A NSW Police spokesperson said they were unable to comment on the number of arrests or any incidents during the protest when contacted by this masthead as events were still unfolding.

Police may address the media later on Monday night.

Earlier, protesters held signs labelling the visiting president a “war criminal” and accusing him of genocide. “Isaac you are pure evil,” one read.

Some held bloody dolls representing dead Gazan children. Other signs depicted wanted posters for Herzog, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Others brandished signs of Premier Chris Minns and Herzog painted with moustaches evoking Hitler.

The rally came shortly after the NSW Supreme Court rejected an urgent legal challenge to sweeping powers granted to police for Herzog’s visit to Australia. Justice Robertson Wright made orders less than an hour before the planned protest.

The NSW government quietly declared Herzog’s visit a major event on Friday under legislation typically used to manage crowds at large sporting events.

It triggered wide-ranging powers for NSW Police, including the ability to shut down parts of a “major events area” in the Sydney CBD and eastern suburbs, to limit the number of people who can remain in the area, and to conduct searches. The march to parliament was not an authorised route.

The major event declaration was not announced publicly until Saturday.

Minutes after the court challenge was rejected, Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees said the protest at Town Hall and planned march to Parliament House would go ahead regardless.

Australian of the Year Grace Tame condemned Herzog’s visit, earlier telling the crowd Australia was “a so-called democracy that punishes peaceful protesters like us, but welcomes a war criminal with open arms”.

“A man … who said, and I quote, ‘there are no innocent civilians in Gaza’,” Tame said, before leading a chant of “From Gadigal to Gaza, globalise the intifada”.

Labor MPs Dr Sarah Kaine, Cameron Murphy and Stephen Lawrence were at the rally despite Minns invoking the special police powers.

Jewish independent journalist Antony Loewenstein told the crowd Israel’s actions “endanger all of us, including Jews.”

“[Herzog] in Israel may be seen as a Labor-left man, believe me, he is an extremist, which is very mainstream in Israel,” Loewenstein said.

It is the first time the sweeping police powers have been used solely for the visit of a foreign dignitary.

The government said in a media release on Saturday that “we cannot allow a situation where mourners, visitors and protesters are brought into close proximity in a way that risks conflict, violence or public disorder”.

Had it been successful, the challenge to the major events powers would only have removed one source of potential criminal liability for protesters.

The Palestine Action Group has also launched a pending challenge to separate public assembly restrictions, introduced following the Bondi tragedy, which remove legal protections for protesters who block traffic or pedestrians on unauthorised protest routes.

While crowds gathered at Town Hall, chanting “from the river to the sea, Herzog to the ICC [International Criminal Court],” not far away, snipers and a hovering police helicopter prepared for Herzog to arrive at a different International Convention Centre, where he addressed an event organised by the Zionist Federation of Australia.

At the request of police the crowd at the Sydney ICC were held in place for 30 minutes at the end of the event, in an attempt to keep supporters of the Israeli president separate from protesters in the CBD outside.