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Amnesty International Australia, rights organisations and pro-Palestine solidarity organisers have criticised New South Wales Premier Chris Minns’ call to ban Palestine protests outside places of worship, saying it would be anti-democratic.

Antisemitism special envoy Jillian Segal first made the call, labelling the weekly Palestine rallies as “intimidatory” and the pro-Palestine student encampments as “antisemitic”.

Segal’s appointment by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was controversial, given that she is a pro-Israel lobbyist who has attempted to justify war crimes in Gaza.

Minns and joined the anti-democratic bidding war after the Adass Israel synagogue was firebombed, offering to investigate banning protests outside places of worship.

The PM said he “cannot conceive of any reason, apart from creating division in our community, of why someone would want to hold a demonstration outside a place of worship”.

and those protesting the Catholic church’s anti-abortion position would disagree.

Amnesty International spokesperson Mohamed Duar said protesting for a ceasefire, to protect all human rights and for an end to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza are “an essential and protected outlet” for people to express their views.

He said Australia had a “long and proud history of anti-war protests”, including against the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, saying they had contributed to Australia adopting positions in international forums “that help to bring an end to wars”.��

“The right to protest in public spaces makes the foundation of a democracy and is a fundamental human right,” Duar added.

“Authorities have an obligation under international law to protect and facilitate peaceful assemblies, not restrict them.” ��

Duar challenged Segal’s characterisation of the pro-Palestine demonstrations, saying it was misleading and dangerous��because it “delegitimises the voices of those calling for justice in Gaza and beyond”.

“Criticism of state actions is not hate — it is the exercise of freedom of expression, a right that must be safeguarded, not suppressed,” Duar said.��

International human rights law states that restrictions on protest can only be imposed if they are lawful, pursue a legitimate aim and are necessary and proportionate.

“Blanket bans on demonstrations simply for their political message or location are unlawful and discriminatory.”��

“The peaceful protests in Sydney, Melbourne and other cities have joined millions of people across the world, expressing their solidarity and exercising democratic engagement.

“These gatherings have been overwhelmingly peaceful and have brought together diverse communities united by a shared commitment to human rights,” Duar said. He called on federal Labor to “protect the right to protest, resist discriminatory narratives and ensure that the fundamental freedoms of assembly and expression are upheld for all”.��

The said if Labor prevents people from “exercising their right to peacefully protest”, it increases the risk of “disruptive and potentially violent demonstrations”.

It said laws already exist to ensure that protest “does not unduly infringe on the rights of others”. Racial vilification and discrimination on grounds of race, religion, disability, sex, sexuality, gender and age are already illegal under the��NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977.

�ճ����Crimes Act 1900��already makes it an offence to publicly threaten or incite racial or religious violence.

NSWCCL said laws banning protests outside of religious institutions would “unduly silence freedom of speech and curtail the right to protest and assembly”.

It said religious institutions “exercise significant” political power and “this makes them a legitimate site of protest in a democratic society”.

Josh Lees from the Palestine Action Group (PAG) said on December 12 that Jews and non-Jews have been marching peacefully for 61 weeks calling for an end to the genocide.

He said Segal’s call for protests to be banned “shows why this extreme supporter of Israel’s war crimes should never have been given an official role”.

“It’s bad enough that Segal defends the brutal apartheid regime which reigns in Israel,” Lees said, but “now she wants to import a similar authoritarian regime into Australia”.

PAG called on Labor to remove Segal from her post.

Associate Professor Peter Slezak told the pro-Palestine rally on December 15 that Segal’s charges of antisemitism have no bearing on reality. Slezak, the son of Holocaust survivors, said antisemitism should not be confused with the legitimate criticism of Zionism.

Segal told the Daily Telegraph that she wants states to adopt a law to ban demonstrations outside places of worship, “because to criticise a religion [goes against] an essential part of our democracy”.

Slezak said Segal’s conflation of antisemitism with anti-Zionism was deplorable.

However, he said since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza, more people can see that it is not a religious war but a land grab.

Queensland’s new Liberal-National government and Victorian Labor both said they were looking positively at the NSW government’s next steps in limiting the right to protest.

Victoria Police determined that the December 15 pro-Palestine protest in Naarm/Melbourne was a “designated zone”, thereby giving themselves them greater powers to stop and search people.

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