A coalition of legal, community and civil society organisations today published an Open Letter calling on the NSW Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Police, and Commissioner of Police to immediately drop all criminal charges against people who protested the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog on 9 February 2026.

The “drop the charges” campaign is led by the Civil Liberties Defence Centre and the NSW Council for Civil Liberties. The Open Letter details serious failures in the policing of the Town Hall protest and argues that all charges are tainted by unlawful and unconstitutional conduct by NSW Police.

"What happened at Town Hall on 9 February was politically motivated suppression. 

"The charges that followed are built on a foundation of unlawful conduct and unconstitutional powers. Pursuing these prosecutions is not only legally untenable, it compounds the harm already done to people who were simply exercising their right to protest. 

"The government must act now and drop the charges.”

Timothy Roberts, President of NSW Council of Civil Liberties said:
"The right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of any healthy democracy. When police act unlawfully to crack down on a public assembly like we saw on 9 February, the courts cannot be used as an instrument to finish the job. These charges should never have been laid.

"Continuing to pursue them while having the police prosecute their own conduct is a fundamental affront to the independence and integrity of the justice system. We stand with the protesters and call on the government to end this now. 

"The violence at Town Hall on 9 February 2026 was a direct consequence of a constitutionally invalid Public Assembly Restriction Declaration (PARD).

"Police should not have interfered with protestors exercising their democratic freedoms. They had a right to assemble and march, and they should have been allowed to. 

"Public confidence in the police and the administration of justice has been undermined by the Premier in setting us on this course and the actions of police at the Herzog rally. The maintenance of criminal proceedings by the police against protestors only further erodes this trust. 

"The charges should be immediately dropped, but it is only the start of what is required to restore trust and protect our democratic rights.'

Mark Gillespie, a 78er, attended both the 9 February 2026 protest against the visit of Israeli President Herzog and the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras protest in 1978. Mark said:
"February 9 took me straight back to Kings Cross in June 1978 when we were attacked by police.

"The ferocity and intent to inflict pain on peaceful protesters – there's a commonality there. A real sort of intention to cause pain rather than to disperse a group. That was what I found very ugly.

"We should never have faced that police brutality given 78ers have worked hard with police and commissioners to ensure it would never be repeated."