Words of NSW Police Deputy Commissioner #DavidHudson, 4th July 2025, spoken under oath during a NSW parliamentary inquiry:
“We can’t prevent the free movement of people throughout the city just because you’re in a protest. You can walk down the street, the footpath. Bearing in mind, at that particular protest at the town hall, there were a lot of women, children [and] women pushing prams. It’s not like we were going to put walls up and start boxing on with these people who have a right to protest.”
How things change in 7 months.
That's precisely what NSW police did last night at Sydney Town Hall, to another protest with people from all walks of life (including kids in strollers)—walls were put up, and police did indeed start 'boxing on', even if someone is backing away with their hands up, or kneeling on the ground in prayer, or already pinned to the ground with a knee in their back, or part of a large crowd kettled & unable to disperse (while police charge with pepper spray & horses, yelling "disperse or be arrested").
And the point at which the police first charged? Very soon after rally organiser #JoshLees had begun using a megaphone to encourage people to disperse (not that we could, due to police kettle in place).
#NSW #ProtestIsNotACrime #CriminalisationOfDissent #NSWPolice

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