Law Enforcement Shuts Down ‘Little Palestine at Albo’s’ Protest and Arrests Key Organiser

Grayndler constituent Sarah Shaweesh appeared live on her Instagram feed a little before 1 pm on Thursday, looking a little distraught, as NSW police officers had just arrived at the electoral office of PM Anthony Albanese, as she’d been inside asking staff about a visa issue her family was having.

Shaweesh also happens to be a key vocal organiser of the 24/7 Gaza sit-in protest in front of the PM’s office, otherwise known as ‘Little Palestine at Albo’s’. And the fact that she was in the office seeking assistance, debunks the PM’s claims that an antigenocide sit-in outside was impeding its functioning.

Sarah is a Palestinian woman. Her family has eleven relatives in Gaza, whom they’ve been attempting to obtain visas for, so as to get them out of the region, where Israel has been perpetrating a mass slaughter and starvation project upon the Palestinians of the Strip for 10 months now.

However, the staff at Albanese’s Marrickville electoral office straight-out refused to provide her with any assistance.

So, Shaweesh waited as she required help over this vital matter and this led staff to call the NSW police, and an attending constable explained that he was arresting her for trespass, and she was then taken to Newtown police station for charging.

And while Sarah was in custody for merely seeking assistance on a visa matter, AFP and NSW police officers took the moment to swoop in and shut down Little Palestine at Albos, which had been a peaceful gathering place for people simply wanting the government to condemn the genocide.

Where’s Albo?

“The police arrived in big numbers asking picketers to take down signs and move to the council side of the footpath,” Zuzia Buszewicz, another key organiser of the Little Palestine at Albos sit-in protest, told Sydney Criminal Lawyers.

“There were AFP and NSW police, as well as a van full of riot squad officers,” continued the activist, who put her liberty on the line for the Free Palestine cause earlier this year.

“And supporters flooded the area as they found through the grapevine that the picket was being dismantled.”

Indeed, Shaweesh and Buszewicz started the picket out the front of Albanese’s Marrickville office on 11 February, after one of the weekly Stop the Genocide Sydney protests on Gadigal land.

So, the picket continued 24/7 for 158 days, which is commendable on the part of protesters and deplorable in terms of a continuing genocide.

Despite the smearing of this nonviolent action as undemocratic, intimidating and antisemitic, what it had been is a place of hope, where a diverse multiethnic and multifaith crowd, which has included numerous Jewish people, held a constant nonviolent sit-in, as well as multiple community events.

The one point that Little Palestine at Albo’s participants have reiterated over the monthslong action is all they wanted was their elected federal representative, who also happens to be the PM, to show up and engage with them about his government’s actions in regard to the Gaza genocide.

But instead for the last 5 months and 7 days, Anthony Albanese never dared show his face to his local constituents out the front of his own electoral office. And instead, his electoral office manager wrote a message on a page bearing the PM’s letterhead and image on Thursday, telling them to nick off.

“The ongoing protest activities in the immediate vicinity of this office are significantly impeding the movement of staff and constituents in and out of the office,” read the 18 July dated letter, addressing “to whom it may concern”.

“As a result, I ask that anyone who is participating in these activities depart the public entranceway immediately and that protests be conducted elsewhere,” continued the direction from the Electoral Office Grayndler manager.

Of course, the picket was taken down and the demonstration ceased not on the authority of this letter, but rather it was due to the over a dozen armed and uniformed police standing by as the letter was distributed, as the presence of law enforcement is an automatic threat of violence.

“People felt that it was unsafe, and they would risk arrest if they didn’t comply, so there was some intimidation,” Buszewicz underscored. “People didn’t feel comfortable negotiating or anything like that. People felt intimidated, as there were about eight protesters and twenty cops.”

“Watch their people being shredded”

For entering her local federal member’s office, Shaweesh has been charged with trespassing on Commonwealth land, contrary to section 89(1) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). And this federal offence carries a maximum penalty of a $3,300 fine.

The offence entails being on “prohibited Commonwealth land”, “without a lawful excuse”.

Such land is described as “land belonging to, or in the occupation of, the Commonwealth or a public authority under the Commonwealth, being land upon which is posted a notice to the effect that trespassing upon the land is prohibited”.

To her credit, Shaweesh knew her rights well, when the NSW police officer approached her to arrest her “for trespass”.

“Trespass?” she responded. “But that’s a constituents’ office and I should be able to go in there, and I have a legal right to be heard. We’ve paid for a government service, which is to the Department of Foreign Affairs to apply for a visa that’s been declined.”

“You then go to your local member if it’s been declined for assistance,” she further filled in the NSW police constable.

Shaweesh has eleven family members in Gaza. This consists of four adults and seven children. The visa application process costs “a few hundred dollars” per person, and expecting possible issues, her family applied for five at first just in case they were declined and that’s what happened.

As Amnesty has noted, Australia has not provided humanitarian assistance to any Palestinian fleeing the Gaza genocide. Instead, they’ve been told to apply for tourist visas, with 4,614 applications, or 60 percent of them, having been refused on the basis that the person may not leave on visa expiration.

So, these are the odds Sarah’s family knows it’s up against.

“What do they want us to do?” Shaweesh said in an Instagram statement after being released from custody. “They’re making Palestinians living in the west watch their people being shredded, children lying dead…. It is our government’s responsibility to not participate in an active genocide.”

Little Palestine at Albo’s continues

The shutting down of the Little Palestine at Albo’s picket – which was a peaceful demonstration for a population that understands that 40,000 Palestinian civilians have been slaughtered and over 2 million are now suffering a famine – to come together not just in protest but to support each other.

“The picket may be over, but the network and the community that was built around it is not over,” Buszewicz made certain. “We will meet soon to connect and plan our next steps on how we are going to continue to advocate and protest going forward.”

The Polish woman added that continuing to mobilise at Albanese’s Marrickville office might not be practical, especially as Sarah, “a key organiser”, has been officially banned from the area, which was expressed to Shaweesh in written form again on paper with the PM’s letterhead and photo upon it.

“We will regroup and find a new direction,” Buszewicz said defiantly in conclusion. “This may have been an attempt by the police to strategically incapacitate us as a movement, but this isn’t going to work because we are resourceful, and we are not going to be deterred.”