Calls for calm at Mardi Gras after activists clash with police in ‘unauthorised’ Oxford Street protest

NSW local member Alex Greenwich called for calm after a confrontation between police and protesters on Oxford Street on Friday night, pleading with people not to “take the Mardi Gras parade away from us”.

Around 300 people attended a snap protest at Taylor’s Square in Surry Hills on Friday night.

In a statement, NSW Police said the protest was ‘unauthorised’.

“We don’t need anyone stoking division or conflict,” Greenwich said in an interview on Weekend Today on Saturday.

“My message to anyone planning any kind of stunts throughout [the parade] is: please don’t.

“It is just so unfortunate that we are seeing a relatively small group of people within our community seek to stoke conflict and division and I ask them; please let us have our Mardi Gras parade tonight, let us celebrate, let us heal. Let’s not use this an as opportunity for any political stunts.”

Organised by activist group Pride in Protest, the snap rally called for the police to be removed from the Mardi Gras parade.

Pride in Protest leaders released a statement citing the alleged murders of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird by a police officer and “the systemic, institutional violence perpetrated by police and the carceral system against queer and First Nations communities” as the reasons for their protest.

The rally began around 8pm, with protesters moving to block the road at the Oxford Street and Flinders Street intersection at approximately 8.30 pm.

According to a statement from NSW Police: “The crowd were directed to move onto the footpath. Those who did not comply with police directions were physically removed.”

After the group dispersed, protesters re-gathered at the Sydney Police Centre on Goulburn Street in the CBD.

The group were “again blocking vehicle traffic before police intervened moving them onto the footpath,” the police statement said.

Police allege there were “no reports of any property being damaged, person being injured, or any arrests being made.”

However, Evan van Zijl, a Pride in Protest member, claimed activists received “countless scrapes, cuts and bruises at the hands of... police officers.”

The confrontation came amid building tension between the LGBTQI+ community and NSW Police that has focused on whether the police should be allowed to participate in the Mardi Gras parade.

While Mardi Gras organisers originally uninvited police from participating in the parade, an agreement was reached on Thursday to allow law enforcement to march out of uniform.

A police spokesperson said that while there is a “heightened risk” of unauthorised protests during tonight’s Mardi Gras parade, the police operation would be no different to other years.

The spokesperson continued that unexpected protests are “always a possibility” and that the police were prepared for “anything that may arise”.

Greenwich also called on parade attendees to welcome the NSW Police float with respect, and not to boo or heckle.

“No LGBTQ person should be booed or heckled tonight, and that includes LGBTQ police officers,” he said. “Let’s come together for the community tonight, not put the safety of marchers and volunteers at risk with unplanned stunts.”

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