Protesters face court after Sydney Mardi Gras chaos

A group of Pro-Palestinian protesters who sparked chaos at the Sydney Mardi Gras when they stormed onto the parade route have appeared in court for the first time as some flagged their intention to fight allegations they used violence to cause fear.

Eight members of the “Queer Solidarity with Palestinian Resistance” movement appeared in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Monday after they were arrested during the 2024 Mardi Gras earlier this month.

Police wrestled a large banner from the protesters before officers flooded the area to remove them from the parade route along Oxford St during a heated incident on March 2.

Protesters jumped onto the parade route ahead of NSW premier Chris Minns, who was marching with the Rainbow Labor contingent.

Seven women and one man were charged over the protest and were granted conditional bail before appearing in court on Thursday.

Diego Garcia-Miranda, 25, Lucky Dodd, 29, Shareeka Helaluddin, 31, Alexandra Moulis, 35, Claire Pettigrew, 39, Priya Panchalingham, 38, Karli Munn, 41 and Miranda Gibson, 42, all had their matters mentioned in court for the first time on Thursday.

They were all charged with using violence to cause fear and Mr Garcia-Miranda was also charged with possessing bright light distress signal etc in public place

The group previously released a statement saying they had not used flares during the protest and instead “released smoke effects which are legal in NSW, and are regularly used at events such as weddings, gender reveals, parties, and protest marches.”

Ms Helaluddin, Ms Moulis and Ms Pettigrew entered not guilty pleas on Thursday.

Their solicitor Lydia Shelly successfully argued for several members of the group to have bail conditions removed, including one that ordered they not take part in unlawful protests.

Magistrate John Arms noted they were still bound by bail conditions to be of good behaviour, which prohibited them from taking part in unlawful protests.

Ms Shelly argued that they were unlikely to take part in similar protests given the next Mardi Gras would not take place for another year.

She also successfully argued for some of the protesters to have bail conditions removed which restricted them entering the Sydney CBD and Darlinghurst.

The group will return to court on June 6.

Following the protest earlier this month the group released a statement claiming that police used “excessive force against activists”.

“As a queer person I feel that it’s our responsibility to express support and solidarity here at Mardi Gras with Palestinians resisting the settler-colonial zionist entity and its genocidal violence,” said an anonymous member of the group.

“The Labor party do not deserve to be celebrated here, they deserve to be held accountable for their active support of the zionist state.”