Sydney Opera House protest: Extraordinary twist as it’s revealed pro-Palestine rally ‘illegal from start to finish’ because organisers failed to fill out form

There has been a dramatic twist to Monday night’s pro-Palestine rally at Sydney Opera House, as it’s revealed the protest was entirely illegal. 

Daily Mail Australia has confirmed with the NSW Police Commissioner’s office that the organisers did not submit an application to hold the march. 

Radio station 2GB initially threw doubt on the rally’s legality when Independent NSW MP Rod Roberts said no Form 1 – which is required to legally hold a protest – had been signed by the organisers. 

Show host Ray Hadley also said the state’s Police Minister Yasmin Catley was ‘missing in action’.

‘So last night’s protest was illegal from start to finish,’ he said. ‘There was no application for the protest to go ahead.

‘Somehow, Assistant (Police) Commissioner Tony Cooke has stood before the media this morning unaware there was no Form 1.’

New South Wales Police Minister Yasmin Catley (pictured) has been accused of being ‘missing in action’

Hadley said that ‘We all assumed, probably incorrectly, that there was approval sought and given for this protest to go ahead.’

He then detailed the steps necessary to hold a protest in NSW, which involves going to the relevant police commander, getting permission and filling in Form 1.

Mr Roberts, who previously served as a police detective, said he had come by the information because he ‘had 20 years in the NSW Police … and I still have a number of contacts inside the organisation’. 

He said he had it ‘on very good authority’ that no Form 1 was submitted for Monday night’s protest. 

‘Therefore, the bottom line is that it was an unlawful gathering,’ he said. 

Mr Roberts said he was shocked that Ms Catley did not appear at NSW Premier Chris Minns’ press conference on Tuesday morning.

‘Everybody would know that this is the topic of the day I’m sure that if I was the Premier, I would have my Police Minister standing right beside me,’ he said. 

‘Instead, she’s not even there, she’s missing in action and this isn’t the first time.’

Hadley agreed, saying ‘One would have thought that given the gravity of what happened last night and given the road crash interview by Attorney General Michael Daley this morning, that he would have summoned Yasmin Catley to be by his side.

‘But he’s now running a protection racket for her.’

Mr Daley admitted on 2GB he had no idea about the rally where protestors lit flares and chanted ‘gas the Jews’ outside the Opera House on Monday night. 

Mr Roberts intends to use a NSW Legislative Council motion called Standing Order 52 to find out all the information relevant to the legality or otherwise of the protest and the police intelligence behind it.