No notes were taken, no slides were shown and senior officers spoke off the cuff at a critical briefing Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon led at the SCG on the day of a planned protest against visiting Israeli president Isaac Herzog that descended into chaos, an inquiry has heard.
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission is investigating the use of force by police while dispersing protesters at the February 9 rally, including the use of capsicum spray against crowds which included elderly people, and the way policing decisions were made and communicated.
These issues were detailed in an opening address on Monday, the only public element of the watchdog’s inquiry before the commission turns to five weeks of private hearings with junior police.
Counsel assisting Kirsten Edwards, SC, said the Sydney Cricket Ground briefing would form part of the evidence before the LECC about the preparation for what was predicted to be a heated protest.
“Witnesses’ recollection of what was said has varied,” Edwards said. “The one matter on which the evidence to date is consistent is that officers were clearly told that the protest was intended to remain static, and that a march was not to be permitted.”
The inquiry will also consider potential misunderstandings between police and protesters, and among officers themselves, as evidence shows protesters were forcefully pushed towards police lines with no ability to escape.
Edwards said in her statement that Operation Makalu was not a corruption inquiry, and the commission would work collaboratively with police on any recommendations needed to improve the way police respond to protest events.
“This is not an exercise in retrospective blame for its own sake,” Edwards said.
While there was evidence of some police officers engaging appropriately with protesters, Edwards identified a series of themes that the LECC would consider, including the frequent use of OC spray, police corralling protesters into areas from which they could not leave, police running at speed towards the crowd and officers pushing protesters into objects such as benches.
The inquiry will also investigate allegations of officers boasting about their use of force.
The LECC received more than 800 reports which led to 400 formal complaints about the use of force by police officers during the protest, but after an intervention from Lanyon only the evidence of senior police officers will be heard in public.
Lanyon raised concerns about publicising officers’ identities, which he argued could have a chilling effect on police being prepared to undertake public order work as a result of providing evidence.
The LECC Chief Commissioner Peter Johnson, SC, decided that police witnesses up to the rank of inspector would not be identified during proceedings, in part because of his view that conducting the hearing entirely in public could have a negative impact on social cohesion in Sydney.
Legal Observers spokeswoman Imogen Yang said: “Social cohesion is strengthened when grievances are heard, allegations are fairly tested and wrongdoing, where established, is openly confronted.
“Public scrutiny may expose uncomfortable truths, but shielding those in positions that exercise power from that scrutiny risks far greater damage.”
Edwards told the commission that more than 1000 video clips – from protesters, the media and police body-worn cameras – were being examined by the LECC, excerpts of which may be played during later public hearings so officers can provide extra context.
The investigation will focus on a few select case studies, including an incident about 8pm when a group of Muslim protesters moved away from the rally to conduct their evening prayers, only to be aggressively dispersed by police officers while bowed in worship. The Herald previously revealed a senior officer had given permission for the prayers to proceed.
There was limited evidence of physical violence on the part of protesters, Edwards said, and evidence of demonstrators which police described as aggressive was mostly verbal.
A lawyer acting for the police commissioner said senior officers would describe an “unprecedented level of serious verbal abuse” towards police.
Police relied on two pieces of legislation giving officers extra powers to disperse and arrest protesters – a major event declaration, made for the duration of Herzog’s visit, and the public assembly restriction declaration (PARD).
The PARD prohibited protest marches throughout certain parts of the city and eastern suburbs as part of laws introduced after the Bondi Beach terror attack. Activist groups challenged the constitutionality of the PARD law in the Court of Appeal, which struck out the legislation as invalid.
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