Demonstrators gather during the 'Rally Against Police Brutality' following yesterday's clashes with police during a protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog's state visit to Australia, in Sydney, Australia, Feb. 10, 2026. (Credit: Hollie Adams/Reuters)
Chaos erupted on Monday evening in the heart of Australia's largest city as police tried to prevent a rally from taking place in protest against a visit by Israel's President Isaac Herzog.
Law enforcement hit protesters and members of the media, including AFP, with pepper spray in rarely seen violent scuffles in Sydney's central business district.
New South Wales police have said they arrested 27 people at the rallies and have confirmed they used pepper spray against the crowd.
But they have sparked outrage with a video circulating on social media showing Muslim men praying near Sydney's Town Hall being pushed and shoved by the police.
Local Greens lawmaker Abigail Boyd told local broadcaster ABC she had been hurt by police at the march and posted a selfie to social media wearing a neck brace.
"I didn't know that this was what police could do in our state. I feel just absolutely shocked," she said.
Protest groups have called for supporters to rally against "police brutality" at 5:30 pm (6.30 a.m. GMT) in downtown Sydney.
Herzog's visit is expected to last until Thursday. On Tuesday morning he met students at a Jewish school in the Sydney suburbs.
He is later expected to meet with the families of victims of the Bondi attack.
The progressive Jewish Council of Australia said he was not welcome because of his role in the "ongoing destruction of Gaza."
The U.N.'s Independent International Commission of Inquiry found last year that Herzog was liable for prosecution for inciting genocide after he said all Palestinians — "an entire nation" — were responsible for the Oct. 7, 2023, operation.
Israel has "categorically" rejected the inquiry's report, describing it as "distorted and false" and calling for the body's abolition.
