When is it illegal to attend a protest? Contempt of court and unlawful assembly following Commissioner of Police v Naser

Henry Chen and Cherry Tang

In this post, we challenge the comments made by the NSW Court of Appeal about the potential criminal consequences of an order ‘prohibiting’ a protest under s 25 of the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW) (Summary Offences Act) in Commissioner of Police (NSW Police Force) v Naser [2025] NSWCA 224 (Naser).

On 1 October 2025, Palestine Action Group notified NSW Police of their intention to hold a protest for 40,000 people at the Sydney Opera House on 12 October 2025, after ‘two years of genocide’ in Gaza (Opera House protest). In response, NSW Police applied to the Court of Appeal for a prohibition order, which the Court ultimately granted.

The proposed Opera House protest followed an earlier protest organised by Palestine Action Group on 3 August 2025 on the Sydney Harbour Bridge (Harbour Bridge protest), at which protesters enjoyed legal immunity from offences relating to unlawful assembly or obstruction after Rigg J refused to make a prohibition order sought by NSW Police: Commissioner of Police v Lees [2025] NSWSC 858 (Lees). While the expected turnout at the Harbour Bridge protest was estimated at 10,000 and later revised to 50,000, the protest was ultimately attended by up to 90,000 people (according to NSW Police) or 300,000 people (according to Palestine Action Group).

The Harbour Bridge protest was halted mid-way and turned around for reasons of public safety. Following the protest, Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna reflected that while the police operation was a success in that no one was hurt, ‘gee whiz, I wouldn't like to try and do this every Sunday at that short notice.’