Last week’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras march was marred by brutal assaults by NSW Police, with some marchers being physically dragged out of the parade. Wendy Bacon reports.
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MWM has interviewed 5 people and watched videos (not all of which have been publicly released) that show police attacking and forcing people out of the parade without providing justification for their actions.
All of the people interviewed had tickets authorising them to join the march, had entered the pre-march enclosure legitimately and had waited in the holding areas for some time, admiring other floats and chatting to friends before moving towards the march entrance with the ‘Drag Kings’ float.
They received no warnings before being attacked.
One person was carrying a Palestinian flag, which a policeman grabbed off her. She was then assaulted, with four police officers ending up on top of her while she was calling for help.
There is no Mardi Gras rule against carrying foreign flags, and there were Scottish flags and a whole float from Taiwan, quite apart from hundreds of brand flags. MWM has also seen a video of this same person being assaulted by Federal police in December 2025.
“Thrown to the ground”
MWM also interviewed another marcher who was assaulted, Maeve Nelli, who had made an Instagram post not long after the attack.
Nelli had been invited to march with the ‘Drag Kings’. She was excited because this was her first parade. She described how police had their hands on her throat and then threw her to the ground. Her personal belongings and medication were on a trolley that continued in the parade after she was dragged outside.
Maeve suffered physical bruising and a severe panic attack. She has medical reports and is in the process of seeking legal advice.
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Another Drag King was pulled by her hair and flung against a fence, which collapsed. She was then picked up and thrown down again.
Others were forced out of the parade by lines of police.
NSW Police statement
NSW Police put out a media release stating that four people were arrested during Mardi Gras, but MWM can find no evidence that anyone was arrested. None of the people violently ejected were arrested, which means they face no charges. This puts the onus back on them to take action against the police, and requires briefing lawyers.
While NSW police were assaulting marchers, their own float was participating in the parade.
This latest episode of police brutality highlights the escalation in authoritarian policing of protests in NSW, evident at last year’s Weapons Expo when pepper spraying was used on peaceful protesters, and at the anti-Herzog protests in February this year.
Herzog protests. Medics attacked too, lawyers question police violence
Organisers response
On Monday, MWM sent questions to Jesse Matheson, CEO of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG), organisers of the parade, about what instructions had been given to NSW Police about the policing of the Mardi Gras and what action SGLMG intends to take in response to the assaults. We received no response by our deadline.
However, several hours after we sent our questions, the Co-Chairs of the Mardi Gras Board, Kathy Pavlich and Mits Delisle, issued an update to all Mardi Gras members.
Both Pavlich and Delisle are linked to NSW Labor: Pavlich works in the NSW Ministry for Health as a security risk expert, and Delisle is Convenor of Rainbow Labor. They stated:
“Throughout the evening, there were instances where individuals associated with the protest entered or attempted to enter the Parade route without authorisation. The Parade route is a carefully managed environment, designed to ensure the safety of thousands of marchers and volunteers, and hundreds of thousands of spectators.
“Unauthorised entry to the route presents serious risks to float operators, performers and those walking near moving vehicles. Our focus throughout the evening was to de-escalate where possible and maintain a safe environment for everyone involved. Where necessary, event security and police intervened to remove individuals from the Parade route.”
This statement suggests that the management of Mardi Gras was involved in the policing decisions. It does not explain how any of the people violently ejected were unauthorised (they all had tickets) or were posing a risk to other participants. What is clear is that rather than ‘de-escalate’,
police actions placed a number of participants at severe risk.
Apology anniversary for 78ers
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Parliament’s apology to those who marched in the first Mardi Gras, many of whom were violently bashed and arrested. At that time, the ‘78ers were assured that this sort of violence would never happen again. On repeated occasions since then,
violent policing and over-policing have continued.
Mark Gillespie of the 78ers told MWM that the violence at this year’s Parade “represents a concerning turn towards authoritarianism in NSW. The levels of police brutality on Sydney streets, and sheer scale of premeditated state-sponsored violence, at times suggesting military-style planning, have not been seen since 78ers were savagely attacked at the first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in June 1978.”
“When I see the disturbing video footage of young male NSW Police constables targeting young female, queer and trans activists in Hyde Park at the Mardi Gras parade last Saturday night,
I know that trust between LGBTQI+ communities and the NSW Police is ruptured.
Pride in Protest
Some but not all of those assaulted were members of a collective called Pride in Protest (PIP).
Pride In Protest was set up in 2020 and describes itself on Twitter as a grassroots collective to “restore the protest roots of Mardi Gras and challenge systems of injustice.” It was recently part of a Pro-Palestinian alliance that challenged the constitutionality of the Minns government’s most recent anti-protest laws.
It opposes the NSW Police Force having an official float in Mardi Gras and came close to achieving this in a narrowly lost motion at the SGLMG Annual General meeting last year.
PIP has a substantial following with two elected positions on the Mardi Gras Board, one of whom, Luna Choo, attracted the most votes of any candidate in the history of the Board.
Along with many international Queer solidarity groups, Pride in Protest has adopted the slogan No Pride in Genocide, campaigning in favour of Palestine including within Mardi Gras itself. When the Board passed a motion in support of a ceasefire in the war on Gaza in 2023, the Jewish group Dayenu complained that they were not consulted.
Jewish group withdrawal
This year, Dayenu announced that they would withdraw from the 2026 Parade. Understandably, they cited the Bondi Massacre as leaving them feeling unsafe, but less understandably, they cited the ‘violent riot’ at the anti-Herzog protest at Town Hall.
They denied any police violence occurred at the protest.
This flew in the face of a large amount of external evidence, leading to an independent inquiry by the NSW Law Enforcement and Conduct Commission. Their statement upset Pro-Palestinian Queer protesters and their supporters.
Herzog protests. Medics attacked too, lawyers question police violence
PIP responded to Dayenu by accusing them of a ‘lobby’ stunt and of supporting ‘genocide’.
Dayenu said that they were offended and denied that the group is Zionist. Dayenu communications state that the group previously received support for their Mardi Gras activities from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, and that the group has promoted migration and a volunteer tour to Israel during the genocidal war on Gaza.
In order to clarify, MWM asked the group how they should be accurately described and if they were pro-Israel. MWM did not receive an answer.
After negotiations with Mardi Gras, Dayenu rejoined this year’s Parade.
On the day before the Parade, CEO Matheson demanded PIP take down the offending social media post on the grounds that the offending post breached conditions of not criticising other participants.
According to PIP, Matheson declined to take their calls. PIP did not retract the post.
In a move unprecedented in the history of Mardi Gras, Matheson withdrew the authorisation for PIP’s float ‘Celebration without Compromise’ just a few hours before the parade began.
PIP held a peaceful protest at Town Hall and then marched without incident to Mardi Gras. Most PIP supporters then left, while others with tickets and links to other groups joined their floats and participated in the Parade.
PIP deny accusations of anti-semitism and says that they are anti-Zionist and anti-Genocide, not anti-Jewish. Pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters attend their rallies.
While PIP were excluded, the NSW Liberal Party, which has recently called for a review of Mardi Gras funding, marched with placards of their leader, Kelly Sloane.
The NSW police marched in uniform, guarded by other police, while fellow members of the force were bashing participants.
It’s all in the name of Mardi Gras’s policy of ‘inclusivity’.
Disclaimer: Wendy Bacon is a 78er who was arrested for protesting in the first Mardi Gras and on other occasions in the 1970s. She is a member of SGLMG and has also attended Pride in Protest rallies.