SYDNEY: Sydney police used pepper spray on protesters on Monday as a rally against a visit to Australia by Israel’s President Isaac Herzog turned violent.
The head of state’s tightly secured, four-day visit was aimed at consoling Australia’s Jewish community in the wake of the December shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people at a Hanukkah festival.
But he was met with protests in Australia’s two largest cities on Monday evening, with a Sydney rally turning violent as police hit protesters and members of the media, including AFP, with pepper spray.
An AFP journalist said they saw at least 15 protesters being arrested as members of the rally scuffled with the police.
Palestine Action Group spokesman Josh Lees said on Instagram the police had “repeatedly charged us with horses and pepper spray.”
New South Wales police declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
Crowds also gathered in the center of Melbourne demanding an end to Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian territories.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had urged people to be respectful of the reason for Herzog’s visit, saying he would join the president to meet with the families of those killed at Bondi Beach.
The New South Wales state government invoked new powers giving police greater powers to control demonstrations prior to the rally.
An attempt by protesters to overturn those powers in the state’s Supreme Court failed just before the rally began, local media reported.
Not far from the protests, Herzog took part in an event on Monday evening titled “An Evening of Light and Solidarity” for the victims of the Dec. 
14 killings.
Earlier, the Israeli president paid homage to the victims under rain and grey skies as he laid a wreath outside the beachside Bondi Pavilion.
“The bonds between good people of all faiths and all nations will continue to hold strong in the face of terror, violence, and hatred,” he said.
“We shall overcome this evil together.”
Herzog said he laid two stones from Jerusalem at Bondi Beach “in sacred memory of the victims.”