Thousands took part in a pro-Palestinian march in Sydney on Sunday.
Per ABC, the march began in the CBD and moved to the Sydney Harbour Bridge which had been shut down in anticipation of the protest.
However, just before 3pm, NSW Police issued a statement saying that “in consultation with the organisers, the march needs to stop due to public safety and await further instruction”. Protestors were asked to stop walking north over the bridge and make their way back towards the city.
“Participants have been asked to stop proceeding across the bridge to avoid a crowd crush at the northern end of the harbour bridge,” police said in a statement.
“Once the procession has come to a halt, protestors will be asked to turn around and walk back toward Wynyard to avoid a risk of injury due to the huge number of people taking part.
“Police believe the safest route back is to walk back across the bridge given the huge numbers to avoid overwhelming the public transport system and a potential crowd crush scenario.”
Speaking at a press conference later on Sunday, NSW Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Peter McKenna said they estimated 90,000 people turned out for the march.
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“Make no mistake, public safety was a real concern to us today,” McKenna said.
“Whilst those numbers were far greater than what the organisers asked for… I’m really happy that the police on the ground, the police commander ran an operation today where they had to make very big decisions very quickly to ensure people’s safety.
“At points today we were really concerned about a crowd crush.
“We could not allow those numbers to then egress into the northern side, into those train stations without again, that real risk of crowd crush.
“Speaking to some of the people who were on the bridge whilst they were well behaved, it did cause some confusion.
“There were people still trying to move north, others stopping and then we told people that we wanted them to move south and we had to do that incrementally.
“Again, that was some confusion with people on the bridge and at points there, we were worried that they were going to come together.
“So, this operation, from our point of view, was a success in that no one was hurt, no people were hurt, no police were hurt.”
Among the thousands taking part in the protest included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who has rarely been seen publicly since he returned to Australia after being released from prison last year.
