During the final moments of a supreme court hearing police have withdrawn their opposition to a pro-Palestinian rally scheduled for Sunday in Sydney’s CBD.
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00:00It was only a short time ago here at the New South Wales Supreme Court that this resolution
00:07was reached.
00:08Essentially, an 11th hour compromise which sees New South Wales Police and the Palestinian
00:15Action Group meet together and find a resolution which means that Sunday's planned rally on
00:21October 6th will go ahead with the authorisation of police which grants certain protections
00:26to those marching through the Sydney CBD.
00:29Now a difference in what will take place on that march now is that they will not hold
00:33it at the town hall in the CBD which police previously raised safety concerns over.
00:39That will now take place in Hyde Park and they will march through the city and back
00:43to Hyde Park again.
00:45Now the Police Assistant Police Commissioner, Peter McKenna, he said he raised some questions
00:50about that planned route because it went past the Great Synagogue.
00:54It seems though some resolution has been made there and they will take part in that
00:59march which will potentially include thousands of people taking part with police protection
01:05and authorisation.
01:06Now when it comes to the planned event on Monday which is October 7th, they will still
01:13be taking part in a candlelit vigil on that day as well.
01:18And essentially they say they don't need any authorisation to hold that vigil as well because
01:22it's not a moving rally or march and they'll stay stationary.
01:27They say about 100 or hundreds of people will turn up to that candlelit vigil but they don't
01:33exactly know how many people will actually rock up in the end.
01:37They said they don't need authorisation so police didn't have the power to make that
01:41an unauthorised event and that will take place as well.
01:43So essentially 11th hour compromise between the two parties here at the NSW Supreme Court
01:49which will see thousands of people rally through the heart of Sydney on Sunday and
01:54a candlelit vigil on Monday.
01:57And what's been the reaction outside court?
02:00Yeah, well there's been a group of pro-Palestinian protesters who have been outside NSW Supreme
02:05Court waiting for the final decision all afternoon and of course they're very happy with what's
02:11taken place inside the courtroom, they're happy that they'll be marching on Sunday and
02:17that it will be potentially a peaceful protest because of that police protection despite
02:22what police had previously said about concerns for safety and rising tensions in the community.
02:29And we heard from the Assistant Police Commissioner inside court who said that it only takes about
02:34one or two people for things to go wrong and for it to turn into a tinderbox and that's
02:39why he was basically putting forward that motion that it wouldn't be a protest that
02:44police would support.
02:46But obviously there's been a bit of backroom chat now and they've been able to find a resolution.
02:50They've decided that the best option is to hold that public event with police's support
02:55which is obviously something that a lot of the people out here are supportive of as well.
03:00We also heard from one of the main organisers from the Palestinian Action Group, John Lees.
03:06He's happy as well that this can all take place.
03:09He says it's a major win for freedom of speech and the freedom to protest as well and they
03:14say they will do everything they can with their appointed marshals to make sure they
03:18can keep the peace as best as possible and they can continue to be heard in what is supposed
03:23to be marking a year since the war on Israel and Gaza first began.