Australian ​leaders on Tuesday (February 10, 2026) urged calm and called on protests to remain peaceful after clashes ‌between police and demonstrators opposing Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia erupted ​in Sydney. Police said 27 people were arrested, including 10 for allegedly assaulting officers, after violence broke out on Monday evening when police moved in to clear thousands of protesters who had gathered near Sydney’s town hall.

Protesters including an opposition lawmaker said on Tuesday (February 9, 2026) they had been assaulted by officers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was “devastated” by the violence and urged protesters to express their views peacefully.

“Australians want two things. They don’t want conflict brought here. They want killing to ​stop, whether it’s Israelis or Palestinians, but they do not want conflict brought here,” Albanese ⁠told radio station Triple M.

“The causes are not advanced by these sorts of scenes – they are undermined.”

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There were no reports of serious injuries, New South Wales state police said in a statement.

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Thousands gathered in central ​Sydney on Monday (February 8, 2026) to protest against Mr. Herzog’s visit ⁠to Australia, which comes after a mass shooting at a Jewish religious event at Bondi Beach in December that killed 15 people.

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Police had been authorised to use rarely invoked powers during the protest, including directing crowds to move, restricting their entry to certain areas and ‌searching vehicles. A legal challenge to those restrictions was dismissed by a Sydney court on ‌Monday. Mr. Herzog was not present at the protest site.

Television footage showed some protesters trying to push through blockades as officers forced them back. Some were seen lying ‍on the ground while police tried to restrain them.

Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

New South Wales state Premier Chris Minns defended police actions, saying officers were required ‍to make rapid decisions in tense and volatile situations, and urged calm.

“I understand there’s criticisms of New South Wales Police, I just want to make it clear they were caught in an impossible situation,” he told a press conference.

In a statement, the Palestine Action Group Sydney said protesters were unable to leave the event because they were surrounded by police on all sides.

“The police began charging the crowd with horses, indiscriminately pepper spraying the crowd, punching and arresting people,” the group said.

Abigail Boyd, an opposition Green lawmaker in the state parliament, said she had been punched by officers while attempting ⁠to vacate the site.

“I have a very sore arm and shoulder where they punched me. I’m really in shock,” she told a press conference.

New South Wales ​Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said police actions were justified and that they showed restraint.

“Police did what ⁠they needed to do, which was to hold the line and then form and move the protesters back with a view to dispersing them,” he said.

“Having an angry and violent mob marching on police is not a situation that I want our officers in.”

Josh Lees, the head of Palestine Action Group Sydney, said supporters of the group would ⁠rally outside police headquarters in the city on Tuesday evening in response to Monday’s clashes.

The Philippines Bureau of Immigration said on Tuesday (December 16, 2025) that the two alleged gunmen behind the mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach travelled to the Philippines on November 1 aboard Philippine Airlines Flight PR212 from Sydney to Manila and onward to Davao.

A spokesperson for the bureau said that Sajid Akram, 50, an Indian national and Australian resident, travelled on an Indian passport, while his son Naveed Akram, 24, an Australian national, used an Australian passport, arrived together on the same flight.

They departed on November 28 on the same flight numbered, PR212, from Davao via Manila back to Sydney, weeks before the assault that killed 15 people.

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The attack on Sunday (December 14, 2025) was Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.

It was not immediately clear what activities they undertook in the Philippines or whether they travelled elsewhere after landing in Davao, a city in Mindanao, a region where terrorist groups, including Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-linked factions, have operated.

In 2017, Islamic State-inspired militants seized parts of the southern city of Marawi and held it through five months of ground offensives and air strikes by the Military.

The siege of Marawi, the country’s biggest battle since World War Two, displaced some 3,50,000 residents and more than 1,100 people were killed which are mostly militants.

While the Armed Forces of the Philippines is validating the reports, its spokesperson said in a statement the Military is closely coordinating with relevant agencies on matters involving the movements of foreign nationals and potential terrorist ties.