Catie McLeod & Tamsin Rose: Human rights and legal experts have condemned the New South Wales government’s “escalating”, “unnuanced” and “disproportionate” rhetoric and response to pro-Palestinian protesters following a rally at the Opera House.

NSW authorities have vowed to stop marches from proceeding while protesters have promised to “march next week and every week” after a “static demonstration” in Hyde Park this Sunday.

Event co-organiser Amal Naser said they would be “out, loud and proud and we’re not going to bow down to the pressures that we’ve been experiencing from police and the premier”.

Sunday’s gathering was initially billed as a march through the city before police rejected the group’s application on the grounds it was submitted with less than a week’s notice.

NSW Council of Civil Liberties president, Josh Pallas, believed Sunday’s rally could not be deemed unauthorised because it would be held in a park and not block any roads.

“We all have the right to protest and engage in free speech,” he said.

He said there had been an “increasing escalation in terms of rhetoric and response to protest”.

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