source : the age
Police have been granted special powers to move on protesters and search people in areas where the Israeli president is visiting this week.
But so far, at a protest near his final public event in Melbourne, they have not moved on the crowd, which is remaining relatively peaceful behind barricades.
A small contingent from Zionist group the Lions of Zion is waving Israeli flags, pumping music and heckling pro-Palestine protesters, who are hurling insults in turn across the police line.
A few minutes ago, far-right agitator Avi Yemini arrived to join the Zionist group, and was met with jeers from the pro-Palestine crowd. Police stepped in, moving fast to form a line between the two groups.
As the stand-off cooled, the pro-Palestinian crowd again took up the chant: “Palestine will be free!”
President Isaac Herzog has entered the Southbank venue where Melbourne’s Jewish community has gathered for the final public event of his state visit.
A who’s who of Melbourne Jews have turned out to hear the president speak, including businessman and philanthropist John Gandel, Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president David Aghion, Liberal deputy leader David Southwick and City Shul Rabbi Dovid Gutnick.
Israel’s Australian ambassador, Amir Maimon, is also here alongside Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson and Melbourne Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece.
Students from Mount Scopus and Bialik College were also bussed in for the event, which is being staged behind heavy security.
The event is the culmination of a four-day Australian trip, punctuated by a private dinner between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Herzog at Kirribilli House in Sydney.
Chants of “Israel is a terror state” and “long live the intifada” are ringing out as a protest against Israel’s killing of Palestinians grows outside police barricades.
But, though the group is exchanging the odd heckle with a small pro-Zionist group – The Lions of Zion, gathered to support Herzog’s visit – the rally has not been violent.
Police barricades have pushed the protesters back more than a street block from where the Israeli president is visiting a Jewish community event.
A group of protesters dressed in spoof police uniforms, who marched outside Government House this morning to heckle Herzog, arrived at the protest a few minutes ago.
They came with water pistols and spray cans of cream – but behind them, a line of more police advanced to join officers at the barricade.
A small group of Herzog supporters have gathered with Israeli flags to confront pro-Palestine protesters gathering along a police barricade surrounding where the Israeli president is visiting a Jewish community event.
The pro-Palestine protesters have written “Genocide Enablers” in chalk and drawn an arrow pointing towards a line of Victoria Police officers and are chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
Meanwhile, several members of the pro-Israel group Lions of Zion are heckling the pro-Palestine group and waving Israeli flags.
Premier Jacinta Allan has lashed the perpetrators behind graffiti reading “Death to Herzog” that was spray-painted on the side of a University of Melbourne building.
The message was scrawled overnight on the exterior of a building in the university’s inner-city Parkville campus before it was quickly scrubbed off by cleaners this morning.
“It’s absolutely contemptible because we all want peace,” said Allan, who met with Herzog at Government House earlier this afternoon.
“We all want peace to come and causing hurt and grief – and indeed violence as we’ve seen as a result in Sydney – that does not cause peace.”
Police barricades have cut off backstreets in Melbourne as protesters vow to disrupt Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to a Jewish community event this afternoon.
A motorcade appearing to carry Herzog recently entered the venue for the event.
Hours before the event, an anti-Zionist fringe group posted the time and location of Herzog’s visit online. Soon after a pro-Zionist group called on its followers to meet nearby.
Heavily armed police are now patrolling the streets (and even a nearby McDonald’s) ahead of Herzog’s arrival, as guests begin to arrive.
Victoria Police have locked down several city blocks surrounding the Melbourne venue where Israeli President Isaac Herzog will speak today at a Jewish community event.
Billed as “an afternoon of light and solidarity” with the Israeli head of state, the Zionist Federation of Australia hosted event is the final stop on Herzog’s four-day state visit before he flies home to Jerusalem.
Police have established a heavily guarded, steel-fenced perimeter around the venue in the hope of
avoiding direct confrontations between Melbourne’s Jewish community and anti-Israel protesters.
Premier Jacinta Allan and Opposition Leader Jess Wilson will speak at the event, which bookends Herzog’s trip with the Sydney community function attended at the start of the week.
A message calling for the death of Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has been spray-painted on the wall of a University of Melbourne building, ahead of the president’s controversial visit to the city today.
“Death to Herzog” was scrawled overnight on the exterior of a building in the university’s inner-city Parkville campus before it was quickly scrubbed off by cleaners this morning. The graffiti will be referred to Victoria Police.
“The university stands firmly against antisemitism. Racism, hatred and violence have no place in our society or our nation. We became aware of the offensive graffiti on the edge of our Parkville campus this morning and immediately sent cleaners who swiftly removed it.”
Melbourne is the final leg of Herzog’s visit to Australia, after he met with victims of the Bondi terror attack in Sydney and politicians in Canberra.
His presence has been met with protests over his support of the Israeli military killing of more than 70,000 Palestinians since the Israel-Gaza conflict began in 2023.
This morning Herzog dismissed protesters’ objections to his visit and said the finding of a UN Commission Inquiry last year that he and others incited genocide was “a total lie”.
Activists in Melbourne will protest his visit at 5pm outside Flinders Street Station.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog is on the final day of his official visit, meeting with Melbourne’s Jewish community before flying out of the country later today.
In an interview with Seven’s Sunrise this morning, he again rejected protesters’ objections to his visit as part of the “enormous brainwashing with a lot of lies and blasphemy” Israel endures, and dismissed the finding of a UN Commission Inquiry last year that he and others incited genocide as a “total lie” from a “totally politicised” organisation.
In an interview with this masthead published last Saturday, Herzog said that while he did say “an entire nation” of Palestinians bore responsibility for the October 7 massacre of Israelis in 2023, he also said he supported international law and opposed the killing of innocent people.
While his visit has been marked by violent clashes between police and protesters and extensive security lockdowns, Herzog said he found an Australia “that was different from what was depicted”.
“There is antisemitism. It is frightening and worrying. But there’s also a silent majority of Australians who seek peace, who respect the Jewish community, and, of course, want a dialogue with Israel.”
Outside the gates of Government House in Melbourne this morning, a small stand-off unfolded between heavily armed police and a group of about 25 protesters, who heckled from the side of the road as Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived.
Herzog touched down in Melbourne this morning – the final stop in his controversial four-day visit to Australia.
He was whisked past protesters in a motorcade straight from the airport about midday, and inside the gates of Government House, where he is meeting Governor Margaret Gardner and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan for lunch before attending a Jewish community event this afternoon.
The gardens around Government House were mostly quiet on Thursday morning ahead of his arrival – gardeners tended flowerbeds and cycling groups rolled by the road leading up to the gates even as police began to gather.
The odd drone flew overhead, but there were no signs of police snipers on surrounding rooftops – or in trees.
Then about 11am, protesters emerged from the surrounding gardens, some dressed as police, others in black face coverings.
“We are ready to serve and protect war criminals,” shouted a small contingent clad in spoof police uniforms as they imitated the sudden swarm of police officers marching down to clear them back into the gardens.
Police formed a line to secure the road without incident. But as sirens sounded the arrival of Herzog’s motorcade, more protesters arrived, carrying banners and chanting “Herzog you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”.
The protesters have since moved on and police have moved back.
Earlier, former Victorian premier John Brumby slipped through the gates of Government House on foot as a long line of cars with dark tinted windows were ushered inside.
