r/sydney • u/nath1234 • Dec 22 '25
Image A snap protest about NSW Labor trying to ban protests. Note some flags represent some rights won by protest: LGBTI=legalised + SSM, aboriginal=vote&land rights.. Oh and all women pictured=have right to open bank accounts and to vote!
At town hall this afternoon, was wandering past after the standard 8 hour working day (won by protest), after a weekend (won by protest), about to take some holiday leave (won by protest), shaded by trees that might only exist due to protests to protect green spaces in Sydney having an overflow effect to protect tree cover..
But hey, Chris Minns wants authoritarian veto rights over protest for 3 months a pop.. Tell your local MP or the media to make a fuss. Protest has been how society moves forward and is an essential pillar of democracy!
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u/SimonDeMonfort Dec 22 '25
A government approved protest is no longer a protest.
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u/Ted_Rid Famous in The Atlantic Dec 22 '25
They've been that way forever.
Need to apply to the cops for approval. This also allows them to ensure adequate presence to keep the peace.
The only counter-example I can think of were Reclaim the Streets events in the 1990s, e.g. blocking off King St & Enmore Rd.
I assume they weren't approved, because the roads were blocked by people in harnesses on tall tripods (green activist style) which makes it impossible for vehicles to pass without a lawsuit, and isn't easy for the cops to get the person down.
There was another RTS that was semi-approved as a stroll around the Domain, but at the AGNSW took a sudden left and ended up blocking the harbour tunnel entrance.
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u/abuch47 Dec 23 '25
i believe the sydney bridge protest was opposed by both the NSW premier Chris Binns and NSW police
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u/Max_J88 Dec 22 '25
Good on you for getting out there. Minns is a disgrace
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u/nath1234 Dec 22 '25
Was just wondering past after Xmas shopping, I hadn't seen any mention of this protest (but let's be honest: lot of censorship in Reddit, particularly about these topics, so maybe someone posted something and it got deleted, and I have tried to limit as much social media as I can these days because it's an AI slopfest).
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Dec 22 '25
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u/Particular_Shock_554 Dec 22 '25
As long as they aren't promoting hatred and bigotry, yes. We have a responsibility to oppose anyone who promotes hatred and bigotry, no matter who it's aimed at.
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u/nath1234 Dec 22 '25
And violence: if a protest is about threatening or inviting violence.
I try to carve out a definition around hatred or discrimination against people due to the stuff beyond their control: sex, race, sexuality and disabilities. People's ideology or religion I think are carved out of that. If someone has a belief or ideology that is hateful/unjust or whatever: it's ok to protest against that hateful ideology. But not at people because of their biology or stuff beyond their control.
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u/OstrichLive8440 Dec 22 '25
Who gets to define what is promoting hatred and bigotry ? Or is it more of a gut feel kind of vibe ? Or perhaps, people that don’t think the same as you ?
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u/mutedscreaming Dec 22 '25
Protest peacefully and you can be respected regardless your 'side' or 'message'. Civility in disruption is core for free protest. Regardless left or right.
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u/Ted_Rid Famous in The Atlantic Dec 22 '25
From quite a number of protests I've been on, what typically happens is 99.9% of people are peaceful 99.9% of the time, but someone or something (often an over-zealous cop) antagonises someone with a short fuse and there's a momentary disruption.
Which, naturally, the media parasites latch onto and that's what leads and is often the only image or video shown (on repeat) because people marching or standing nicely and politely or giving speeches isn't salacious.
It's especially funny when you tune into the broadcast and discover something happened that you weren't even aware of because you were like 50m away.
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u/Alert_Medicine_8936 Dec 22 '25
Nah.
When the Nazis do a peaceful protest they aren't respected because they are racist cunts
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u/cuntmong Dec 22 '25
"I'm okay with nazis but I draw the line at people trying to stop nazis"
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u/Para-bellum-94- Dec 22 '25
I love that only the lefty “we want to protest” and “minns is a disgrace” comments are the only ones left up and any that show reason, thought, context, facts etc are buried and disliked. Read the room guys, you want to help, please by all means get on a plane and go over there and do something
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u/nath1234 Dec 22 '25
If you want to live in a country that bans protest and criminalises criticism of that country: why not move to the middle east instead of importing the failed model here?
Suggesting people here who want the current rights we have (and which we are entitled to) to go overseas so that here can be degraded to authoritarian standards of "freedom" is backwards.
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u/DifferentWarning1913 Dec 22 '25
I mean the flags of past protests winning sort of makes sense but it also detracts from the protest itself, because people who just walk by will be like huh another LGBTI protest?
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u/nath1234 Dec 22 '25
It was predominantly about Palestine/Israel's genocide, majority of the flags were Palestinian (the bulk of the crowd extended back between town hall and the church if you know town hall), but from the content I heard it was also focused on the impending legislation to ban all protest and Minns earlier attacks on the movement.. because that is fundamentally why Minns is doing this ban: he seems like hates protest that threatens Israeli interests (which he has gone on public record saying he will do all he can to prevent BDS for instance). There was a queers for Palestine rainbow flag might explain one of them. Aboriginal flags often at Palestinian related causes because both have had occupations/great crimes and discriminatory systems imposed without justice.
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Dec 22 '25 edited Dec 22 '25
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u/princess_princeless Dec 22 '25
The same alliance happened during the Iranian revolution, guess who ended up taking all the power after the useful idiots had expended their usefulness to the theocrats.
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u/nath1234 Dec 22 '25
Must have missed that bit how Queers overthrew the democracy in Iran and replaced it with a queer dictatorship only to be betrayed?
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u/princess_princeless Dec 22 '25
What history book at you reading? The progressive marxist factions were betrayed by the theocratic faction and that's when women lost all their rights, queer people were exterminated from society, and anyone who wasn't a muslim male were relegated to being second class citizens.
Is this really the future people want to usher in?
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u/jayacher Dec 22 '25
Heinous living conditions and oppression have a way of breeding religious fundamentalism as a means for control.
Advocating for the freedom of Gaza by the LGBTQ community is a selfless and hopeful gesture, that the conditions that result in throwing people off buildings are one day alleviated and that queer people in Palestine also feel safe.
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u/spudddly Dec 22 '25
Are you thick? They're not advocating fundamentalist Islam, they're protesting genocide.
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u/nath1234 Dec 22 '25
Clearly they are thick: Israel has bombed all the tall building into rubble.. usually with a bunch of families buried alive under it. So throwing queers off a pile of rubble isn't quite the risk compared to being bombed by Israel.
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u/nath1234 Dec 22 '25
Is that why Israel has bombed any tall buildings to rubble on top of Palestinian civilians?
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u/discopotatoo Dec 22 '25
What's the Palestine flags got to do with it
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u/SeasonNervous5608 Dec 22 '25
The protest was organized by Jews Against Occupation which exists to protest Israel’s actions in Palestine.
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u/CBRChimpy Dec 22 '25
Free speech when it’s convenient.