Multiple people have been arrested as a protest outside a weapons expo erupts into chaos, with demonstrators forcing their way through a police barrier.
Hundreds gathered at Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Tuesday to protest the Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition, a three-day event billed as the “premier forum connecting Australian and international defence, industry, government, academia, and technology leaders”.
The protest, organised by the Palestine Action Group, grew during the early morning before police began deploying pepper spray about 8am in an attempt to break up the surging crowd.
Eight people were arrested by mid-morning as police struggled to hold the crowd back.
“Police will have a presence at the assemblies and will work with protesters to ensure there are no breaches of the peace and there is minimal impact to the community,” a spokeswoman said.
Riot police have been deployed, protecting an entrance to the expo at the International Convention Centre Sydney, about 100 metres from where demonstrators had gathered.
Much of the protest focused on the NSW government’s role in hosting the convention amid the conflict in Gaza.
Exhibitors include Israeli weapons manufacturers and other firms supplying that nation’s military.
“Chris Minns, blood on your hands,” attendees chanted, referring to the NSW premier.
Mr Minns told ABC radio he was unaware of the circumstances surrounding the protests.
He added he was not responsible for invitations to the event and had no input into decisions regarding Australia’s relationships with foreign countries or arms manufacturers.
“That’s the Commonwealth government’s responsibility, it’s not mine,” he said.
“What I would say is that they’re not selling nuclear weapons down at Darling Harbor this weekend. It’s a maritime conference relating to the navy.”
The protest comes a year after similar scenes in Melbourne, when thousands of demonstrators clashed with police and attendees at a major defence and weapons expo.
Protesters lit multiple fires near the expo, blocked traffic and climbed on top of a truck.
3 Comments
“What I would say is that they’re not selling nuclear weapons down at Darling Harbor this weekend. It’s a maritime conference relating to the navy.”
Thanks Chris. It's good to know.
What they do have, are Israel weapons manufacturers flogging "battle tested" weaponry. We all know on which "battle" they're being tested.
Being complicit in genocide is not a good look, nor will the fact that we're not selling nuclear weaponry be a defence in a genocide complicity trial at the International Criminal Court.
Not in my name, Chris Minns.
Well said, @Gregory Shearman.
When Chris Minns took the unprecedented step of projecting the Israeli flag over the opera house, he was, unknowingly or not, erasing a century of murder, torture, dispossession of land and oppression of the Palestinian people by Israel and its terrorist originators.
Did he know that the caravan of explosives was a hoax before he rushed his unconstitutional hate laws, clearly aimed at oppressing protests against a genocide, through the NSW parliament? It is very difficult to believe that he didn't.
As for "Mr Minns told ABC radio he was unaware of the circumstances surrounding the protests." did he have his head in the Bondi sands when Vic. police clashed violently with protesters at the Melbourne weapons expo? Are riot police at all protests? Why didn't the protesters dress all in black, that seems to give them immunity to arrest at a protest?
Chris Minns is such a violent kneejerker, he runs the risk of knocking his block off.