A 53-year-old woman detained by police at a demonstration in Sydney's central business district has been released without charge, after her arrest for wearing a jacket bearing the slogan 'globalise the intifada'.
Arrest and Alleged Police Justification
The incident occurred on Sunday during a protest against US military intervention in Venezuela, which was attended by approximately 300 people despite a New South Wales police prohibition on public assemblies. According to police, the woman was arrested for wearing a shirt 'displaying offensive messaging'.
The woman, who requested anonymity due to fears of professional repercussions, stated that several officers approached her and demanded she remove her jacket. When she asked why, she claims they told her the garment was 'unlawful'.
'I said to them, 'Can you direct me to the specific bit of legislation that outlaws this statement?'' she recounted. 'I knew that it was controversial, obviously, but I knew that wasn't a reason for me to be arrested.'
She alleges police promised to show her the relevant legislation at the station if she complied with arrest, but none was provided upon her release after roughly an hour in custody. Two men, aged 26 and 34, were also arrested for allegedly breaching the peace and similarly released without charge.
The Political and Legal Context of the Slogan
NSW Police did not respond to further questions about the arrest. Currently, no federal criminal offence in Australia explicitly bans the phrase 'globalise the intifada'. However, the NSW government, led by Premier Chris Minns, is actively seeking to expand hate speech laws to prohibit its use and other specific phrases deemed to incite violence.
Following the Bondi Junction attacks, Minns labelled the phrase 'hateful, violent rhetoric' and warned that anyone using it before new laws are passed should 'think again'. He asserted that legal advice indicates the slogan may already breach existing NSW hate speech laws, with forthcoming legislation intended to 'put it beyond a shadow of a doubt'.
The term 'intifada' is Arabic for uprising or 'shaking off'. It refers to Palestinian rebellions against Israel, with the first from 1987-1993 and a second, more violent conflict from 2000-2005. The phrase is deeply divisive: many pro-Palestinian supporters see it as a call for resistance against oppression, while numerous Jewish groups interpret it as a direct incitement to violence against Jewish people.
David Slucki, Director of the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, described 'globalise the intifada' as an 'offensive' and 'threatening' phrase. The arrested woman, however, disputed this characterisation, stating it 'simply means shaking off, or uprising' and is unrelated to Judaism.
Broader Concerns Over Civil Liberties
The incident has sparked significant concern among civil liberties advocates and protest organisers. Josh Lees, an organiser for the Palestine Action Group present at the demonstration, called the arrest a 'gross overreach'.
'It's a very disturbing portent of what may lie ahead if Minns' threatened laws are passed, with peaceful, anti-genocide protesters being snatched off the streets,' Lees said.
Timothy Roberts, President of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, criticised the push for more legislation. 'We have a government that has restricted protest and freedom of speech in the face of cautions... which advise against changes to hate speech laws at the cost of infringing on our right to communicate with each other,' he stated.
The woman maintains her arrest was unjustified. 'I should never have been arrested,' she said. 'I wasn't breaching the peace. I was there as a peaceful protester.' A NSW parliamentary inquiry into banning phrases including 'globalise the intifada' is ongoing, with a vote on new hate speech laws expected later this year.
