A large crowd of pro-Palestine activists have rallied outside a Brisbane court in support of the first person to be charged under Queensland’s new hate speech laws, as one man was warned by police for holding a sign saying “from the sea to the river”.
Liam Parry, 33, was arrested in March at Speakers’ Corner outside parliament for allegedly uttering a banned phrase during what police say was an unauthorised pro-Palestine protest.
Dozens of supporters rallied for Parry outside the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning before his hearing.
Several police and court security staff monitored the situation from nearby, before officers surrounded a man, Mark Gillespie, who was holding a sign that read “from the sea to the river”, a twist on the banned phrase that swapped the order of the words “sea” and “river”.
Gillespie appeared to question officers over the law.
Speaking to media after his warning, he said he agreed to put away the sign.
“The legislation as far as I understand it says the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ is outlawed.
“I questioned them on that and they showed me something in the legislation that if it resembles the symbol … anyway, I’ve agreed to put it away for the time being,” he said.
Gillespie said the laws were an attack on free speech, and that was why he had made the sign.
Parry waited inside court as supporters cheered “this is not a police state, we have the right to demonstrate”.
More to come
Cloe Read is the crime and court reporter at Brisbane Times.Connect via X or email.
