At least one NSW Police officer was seen wearing ‘thin blue line’ Australian flag patch at a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney’s Port Botany on Sunday, where 19 people were arrested.
Legal Observers New South Wales (LONSW), who attended the rally to witness and document interactions between activists and police, said “several” officers wore the patches displaying the iconography that has been co-opted by and is now associated with far-right extremist movements.
They reported “many of these officers were the most aggressive with protestors”, who were there to blockade Israeli shipping company ZIM that uses the docks. ZIM has been associated with the Israeli military and its killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
LONSW also accused police of demonstrating excessive force, throwing several protestors to the ground, using restraint techniques associated with restraint asphyxia, and “violently pushing many” before…
