Pro-Palestine protesters have called off a planned demonstration outside Myer’s annual Christmas windows display in Bourke Street mall after the retail giant cancelled its launch event.
The “Crash the Christmas Windows” protest, organised by anti-war activist Amy Settal and shared on social media by Disrupt Wars, was condemned as divisive by Victoria’s premier.
Settal confirmed the planned disruptions for Sunday’s launch had been called off in a statement issued and said the protest was “always going to be peaceful and non-violent”.
“The intention was to interrupt the media spectacle and economic gain sought by Myer. The children coming to see the Myer Christmas windows were never a target, because children are not a target,” she said on Friday.
Settal earlier told 3AW Radio that protesters were “very pleased with the outcome that Myer has decided to cancel their consumerist party” and were “more than happy for the children to enjoy the windows”.
On Friday morning the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, said she was “furious” the group had “chosen to politicise a beautiful event for children”.
“I’m just as mad at all the others who have quietly stoked this division and egged them on,” she wrote on social media.
“Blocking the Christmas windows won’t change a thing in the Middle East, but it will let down a bunch of kids in Melbourne. Who does that help?”
The premier said that while people had a “right to demonstrate”, they did not have a “right to divide”.
“We cannot let ugly protests ruin a beautiful Christmas tradition, and we cannot let violence, division and vilification ruin what makes Victoria great,” Allan wrote.
Speaking on 3AW Radio, the premier singled out the Victorian Greens, accusing the political party of using “conflict in the Middle East to bring further division and conflict into Melbourne”.
She said most Victorians were “sick of it”.
The Victorian Greens leader, Ellen Sandell, labelled Allan’s comments “disingenuous” and said the Greens had “not endorsed nor supported a protest to disrupt the Myer Christmas windows”.
“The Greens will continue to peacefully speak up for the tens of thousands of children who have been killed in Gaza, and we urge the Labor premier to join us,” she said.
Victoria police said it did not provide advice to Myer to cancel the event, and was it involved in the decision.
“The community should be assured Victoria police will have a visible presence on Sunday. Any decision to cancel the event sits with Myer,” it said in a statement on Friday morning.
Victoria’s police assistant commissioner of North-West Metro, Tim Tully, later told reporters he was “hopeful” Myer would go ahead with their launch after the protest was cancelled, but reiterated that it was the retailer’s “decision”.
Tully labelled the Christmas windows protesters a “splinter group” and said demonstrators from Palestine Melbourne - a group that holds regular rallies in the CBD on Sundays - had been “engaged with Victoria police” and changed its usual route to avoid the mall on Sunday.
The opposition leader, John Pesutto, called on the government to provide police with powers to move on protesters and described the planned demonstration as “disgusting”.
Pro-Palestine group Disrupt Wars had shared the Crash the Christmas Windows event on its social media accounts and encouraged supporters to bring “flags, placards, banners, props, noisemakers and lots of energy ... to interrupt the Christmas windows reveal”.
“Christmas is cancelled, and there will be no joy or frivolity while children in Gaza are massacred,” a social media post read.
It said the protest was designed to “inconvenience those who would rather bury their heads in the capitalist machine than speak up against a genocide”.
Myer said on Thursday the event was cancelled “in light of recent developments”.
“To ensure the wellbeing and safety of customers and team members, we will no longer hold an event on Bourke Street mall for the unveiling of our Christmas windows,” Myer said in a statement.
“Myer’s Christmas windows have long symbolised joy and community, and we remain committed to providing a safe and positive experience for all visitors.”
On Friday, the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, said it was “abhorrent that people are more distressed about Christmas windows than about stopping Israel’s genocide and its war on Palestinian children”.
Israel has rejected accusations that it is committing genocide, as the international court of justice (ICJ) investigates a claim put forward by South Africa that the country’s military campaign in Gaza is genocidal.
Since the 7 October attack on southern Israel by Hamas that killed 1,200 people last year, the Gaza health ministry says more than 43,500 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli offensive.
According to Lebanon’s health ministry, at least 3,365 people have been killed and 14,344 wounded across the country since fighting began.
