SYDNEY: Sydney police used pepper spray and tear gas against thousands of protesters on Monday after a rally against a visit to Australia by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog turned violent.

The head of state’s tightly secured, four-day visit was aimed at consoling Australia’s Jewish community in the wake of the December shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah festival.

But he was met with protests in Australia’s two largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne on Monday evening, with the Sydney rally turning violent as police hit protesters and members of the media with pepper spray.

The visit has attracted the ire of a large number of Australians, who accuse Herzog of being complicit in civilian deaths in Gaza.

Israeli president’s visit to Sydney sparks massive protests in two major cities

Pro-Palestine groups have organised protests in cities and towns across the country on Monday evening.

In Sydney, thousands gathered in a square in the city’s central business district, listening to speeches and shouting pro-Palestine slogans.

“The Bondi massacre was terrible but from our Australian leadership there’s been no acknowledgment of the Palestinian people and the Gazans,” said Jackson Elliott, a 30-year-old protester from Sydney.

“Herzog has dodged all the questions about the occupation and says this visit is about Australia and Israeli relations but he is complicit.”

There was a heavy police presence with a helicopter circling overhead and officers patrolling on horseback.

Pepper spray, arrests

Police repeatedly used tear gas and pepper spray to push back thousands of protesters who were trying to breach the line and march ahead. Several protesters were arrested as police claimed they clashed with the law enforcers.

Palestine Action Group

spokesman Josh Lees said on Instagram the police had repeatedly charged us with horses and pepper spray.

Thousands of people also gathered in the centre of Melbourne demanding an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

New police powers

The New South Wales state government invoked new powers giving police greater powers to control demonstrations prior to the rally.

An attempt by protesters to overturn those powers in the state’s Supreme Court failed just before the rally began, local media reported.

Not far from the protests, Herzog took part in an event on Monday evening titled “An Evening of Light and Solidarity” for the victims of the December 14 killings.

Earlier, the Israeli president paid homage to the victims under rain and grey skies as he laid a wreath outside the beachside Bondi Pavilion.

The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians — an entire nation — were responsible for the Hamas attack on Israel.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2026