A Palestinian-Australian constituent of Anthony Albanese seeking visa help has been arrested and charged with trespassing, after she allegedly refused to leave the prime minister’s electorate office in the Sydney seat of Grayndler.
Sarah Shaweesh livestreamed her arrest on social media, saying she was a local constituent who lived in Marrickville, and the police had “threatened to arrest me because I went into the office to ask about my family’s declined visa applications”.
It is understood Shaweesh was a founder of the picket that has protested outside Albanese’s electorate office since Israel took military action in response to the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
In the video, Shaweesh calmly speaks with a uniformed New South Wales police officer outside Albanese’s office, saying she has a right to enter as a constituent asking for assistance with a visa issue.
The officer says: “You have been asked to leave the office by office staff.” Shaweesh says: “But [the staff don’t] want to assist me – for no reason.” She is then told by the police officer she can make a complaint in writing. She is told she is being arrested and asked to hand over her phone, at which point the video ends.
NSW police said in a statement on Thursday afternoon police had been called to Marrickville Road at 11.50am “following reports of a number of people refusing to leave an office”.
Police said two people were issued with a move-on direction and “a 33-year-old woman was arrested after she allegedly failed to leave from the office after being asked by an employee within the building”.
“The woman was taken to Newtown Police Station where she was charged with trespass on prohibited commonwealth land,” the statement said.
Police said the woman was granted conditional bail to appear at Newtown local court on Tuesday. Shaweesh’s lawyer has been contacted.
A government spokesperson did not comment on the situation in Albanese’s office directly, but said that “electorate offices are there to assist the community with Centrelink, NDIS, immigration and Medicare matters, for example”.
“It’s vital they are open and safe for the community and staff,” the spokesperson said.
Members of parliament can offer assistance with visas, but are limited in what they can provide in their capacity as a local member.
Late on Thursday afternoon, protesters outside Albanese’s office were handed a notice signed by Albanese’s electorate office manager written on Albanese’s letterhead advising that 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”.
“As a result I ask that anyone who is participating in these activities depart the public entranceway immediately and that protests be conducted elsewhere.”
A protester said after the group was handed the notice, the eight people at the picket were told they had 20 minutes to pack up and leave. He said they were told by police they were no longer allowed to obstruct the entrance or the footpath.
For five months, protesters have been running a 24/7 picket outside the office, decorating the front with a range of posters and signs calling for a free Palestine.
By late Thursday afternoon, a number of protesters who have helped support the picket since it began in mid-February gathered outside as the group began to tear down the paraphernalia out the front.
“It’s pretty sad,” Thomas said of being told by the police to pack up. “But the community we’ve built behind this is worth way more.”
Another regular at the picket, Aiden, said he wanted to make clear that their purpose was not to obstruct the entrance to the prime minister’s office, but to have their concerns heard.
“They shut the gate on us and didn’t listen to our concerns or reply to our emails,” they said. “Our purpose was to put pressure on the Albanese government to sanction Israel and call for an immediate ceasefire.”
A protest rights campaigner for Australian Democracy Network, Anastasia Radievska, said protests outside the offices of elected members was “an important form of expression in a democracy”.
“The peaceful picket at Prime Minister Albanese’s office has been a gathering place for families and community members practising their democratic participation,” Radievska said.
Albanese has previously denounced protesters impeding access to electorate offices as having “no place in democracy”. The prime minister made those comments on the basis that some activity had allegedly blocked other constituents from accessing help.
Albanese told caucus: “The idea that constituents would be blocked from getting help on social security and migration is appalling.”
In parliament on 5 June, Albanese said: “I’ve supported justice for Palestinians my whole life and still do, and it is tragic that the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people are undermined by some people engaging in activity that completely alienates the Australian public.”
A number of electorate offices have been closed by MPs after protest action in response to what protesters say is the government’s lack of action in response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Protest actions have included vandalism at Bill Shorten’s office in Moonee Ponds, vandalism and arson at Josh Burns’ office, pro-Palestinian protesters storming the Victorian Labor party conference and a sit-in outside Albanese’s Marrickville electorate office.
The president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Lydia Shelly, said she was “very concerned” about the response by law enforcement in arresting Shaweesh.
“This is a peaceful protest which has now been ongoing for six months. There have been no incidents of violence or any concern which would give rise to the police behaving in such a way,” she said.
“We are incredibly disappointed with the prime minister and his office in the way they have handled this entire situation with the protesters outside his office. Members of the public have every right to meet with their representatives and that there has been a continued protest for six months is ultimately the result of the prime minister’s failure to meet with his constituents over their concerns.”
In response to the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, Albanese raised some of the recent protest action in Australia, but did not single out any one group.
“We are seeing an increased number of direct threats to MPs and to MPs’ families, and we need to make sure that we’re vigilant about it and we need to take it seriously and not just dismiss it,” he said on Wednesday.
