The 20-metre-long banner, displaying the phrase ”Israel is still starving children to death”, which was apparently pulled down in Garema Place on Sunday. Photo: Supplied.
Police are investigating after there was apparently an altercation between a pro-Palestine rally supporter and a group of men in Canberra on the weekend that resulted in an injury to a protester.
Palestine Action Group Canberra posted an update on its social media account claiming one of its supporters had been “attacked” at its monthly rally in Garema Place, Civic, on Sunday afternoon (11 January).
Speaking to Region later, one of the group’s committee members, Diana Abdel-Rahman OAM, said it was the first rally of the year and had started well.
But she said she had seen “characters” when she arrived to set up that afternoon, being a group of men on scooters who were paying close attention to them, which put her and the other organisers on “high alert”.
Ms Abdel-Rahman said she was later on stage delivering a speech on behalf of someone else when a group of men at a nearby pub started being “rowdy” and trying to shout over the top of her, before leaving the pub and approaching the rally.
The protesters had brought a 20-metre-long banner with the phrase, “Israel is still starving children to death”, which was off to the side of the crowd.
Ms Abdel-Rahman claimed she saw a man, who may have been with the group in the pub, grab this banner and throw it to the ground. There then was a “kerfuffle” between this man and a protester, which ended with the protester on the ground with a cut to his ear.
As the protester was an older man, she said an ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital.
“He is OK. But you worry, because when you are older and you fall … you just don’t know what’s happened to you until you get fully checked,” she said.
She also said while she hadn’t witnessed it, she had been told another protester had their phone snatched from their hand and thrown to the ground during the incident.
She said the men from the pub left the scene.
“If they had an issue with what we were doing, come and speak to us, we are happy to talk to everyone,” she said.
Ms Abdel-Rahman said her group had made it abundantly clear at the start of Sunday’s rally that its members were strongly against antisemitism.
“But at the same time, we were abundantly against Israel as a state and Zionism as an ideology,” she said.
“[Our protesters] are people from all sorts of backgrounds who are dedicated to the cause and are horrified by what they see on their phones every day.
“Our movement has always been peaceful and we always make sure we do the right thing.”
An ACT Policing spokesperson said officers responded to reports of an altercation at Garema Place between protesters and patrons at a licensed premises around 5 pm on Sunday.
“Five people were issued a move-on direction,” they said.
“One person was taken to hospital.
“Inquiries into the circumstances of the incident are ongoing.”
The spokesperson said anyone who saw the incident or has information and has not yet spoken to police can contact Crime Stoppers by calling 1800 333 000 and quoting reference number 8271966.
