Pro-Palestine activist defiant after Adelaide arrest and 17-hour jail stint
A pro-Palestine activist claims he was arrested after participating in a peaceful protest in Rundle Mall, held in a cell for 17 hours, and charged under “draconian” anti-protest laws.
An Adelaide man claims he was arrested at his house on Wednesday afternoon and charged under the state government’s anti-protest laws after participating in a pro-Palestine protest on Friday.
Ahmed Azhar, 25, said he was the police liaison for the protest on Friday, which was in support of the Freedom Flotilla – led by activist Greta Thunberg – that was delivering aid to Gazans in Palestine.
He said the protest in Rundle Mall was peaceful, and that he engaged with the police on the day: “I introduced myself to the police at the beginning, and I was there to try and facilitate a safe protest”, he told InDaily.
He said he was charged under the Summary Offences (Obstruction of Public Places) Amendment Act 2023.
On Thursday morning, Azhar appeared at the Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to the charges, but the case was dismissed and he was not convicted of any wrongdoing.
The laws, rushed through Parliament in 2023, lifted fines for public obstruction in the wake of a traffic-stopping Extinction Rebellion protest against an oil and gas industry conference in the CBD. The act increased penalties for intentionally obstructing a public place to $50,000 or three months in jail.
Azhar said he was arrested on Wednesday at 4.30pm at his house in front of his family, and taken away in the back of a paddy wagon.
Then he was presented with “some very draconian bail conditions” which he claimed were “an attack on my civil liberties” and “would have prevented me from going to work, from going to a lot of the Adelaide CBD”.
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He refused those bail conditions and was kept in a cell at Elizabeth Police Station for 17 hours.
Another protestor was also arrested and charged under the anti-protest laws, but accepted the bail conditions. He is due to appear in court at a later date.
Azhar said that he had been involved with Adelaide’s pro-Palestine movement over the past two years, “and we’ve seen throughout this whole process… police have specifically targeted [us] over and over again and have denied us the right to march despite the fact that we get all the correct permits”.
“It fills me with disgust that this is what the South Australia police are choosing to do… That this government would rather criminalise people opposing genocide than those in our society… who are actually responsible for this genocide,” he told InDaily.
“But I’m not intimidated. We’re going to be having a protest again this Sunday. We will be marching on the street. I will be there, and I don’t think any of us should be intimidated into not coming along to protest, because the stakes are simply too high.”
An SA Police spokesperson said: “As the matter is before the courts, we are unable to comment on this particular incident”.
“SA Police are committed to ensuring the rights of all South Australians to engage in lawful protest,” she said.
“However, protestors are reminded that a peaceful demonstration is expected, and anyone who engages in disruptive or unlawful behaviour can expect to be spoken to by police and may face enforcement action if necessary.
“Generally speaking, common conditions of police bail are for the person not to return to the scene of the alleged offence and to not recommit the offence.”
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A government spokesperson said, “questions regarding arrests or decisions made in relation to police bail applications are best placed with SAPOL”.
“It would be inappropriate for a minister to interfere with police operational decisions or matters before the courts.”
SA Best MLC Connie Bonaros said the bail conditions were “clearly an overreach”.
“Bail is not meant to punish somebody. Bail serves a very important purpose in terms of keeping communities safe, but at the same time, also not restricting people’s liberty,” she said.
“I think we’ve seen the worst aspects of those laws that the government passed come to bear.”
Greens MLC Robert Simms said Azhar’s arrest was “absolutely outrageous”, and that he “warned the government that [the anti-protest laws] were a terrible blow for democracy in our state”.
“What’s happened should really send a chill down the spine of every South Australian,” he said.
“This will have a chilling effect on political protest actions in our state.”
It comes as the Israeli government approved Gaza’s ceasefire and hostage deal this morning, Australian time.
The Israeli cabinet agreed to the deal, which paves the way forward for the release of all Israeli hostages both living and deceased.
It also comes ahead of planned protests nationwide in support of Palestine, but a rally at Sydney’s Opera House was scuppered after a court ruled the risk to public safety was too great.
That decision allows officers to move on or arrest those in the iconic landmark’s forecourt.
March organisers have pivoted to a new location after estimating about 40,000 people would have joined the rally through Sydney’s city centre to the steps of the famed waterside landmark.
