AUS – Police Violence Observatory

June 27, 2025 – in front of SEC Plating in Belmore (Sydney)

35-year-old. Punched int the face: could lose her eye while charged with causing a public disturbance (dropped) and hindering or resisting police and not following a move-on direction

Last update: 15:12 - First published June 27, 2025

The crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests is intensifying in many Western countries. She was participating in a protest outside SEC Plating in Belmore, Sydney (reportedly linked to the manufacture of components for United States fighter jets used by the Israel Defense Forces or IDF) , on Friday, June 27, when she was attacked by New South Wales police. Hannah Thomas was among five people arrested (including a 24-year-old man who they allege temporarily stole a police body-worn camera).

Green Party candidate Hannah Thomas in Sydney (she ran against the Prime Minister in his Grayndler constituency in Sydney in this year’s elections) was seriously injured during her arrest. It is unclear to what extent she will recover her sight after suffering a serious eye injury. A police officer struck her violently and then dragged her away to arrest her. The police justified the violence by explaining that the protesters had refused to move despite their orders. NSW Police assistant commissioner Brett McFadden has previously said he did not observe any misconduct in the body-worn camera footage of the incident. All officers involved remained on duty.

Hannah Thomas has been issued a Future Court Attendance Notice for allegedly hindering or resisting a police officer and refusing to comply with a direction to disperse. She is due to appear at Bankstown Local Court on August 12 to face charges for her participation in the protest.

The arrests are being investigated by police officers from another command, with an internal review by professional standards and external oversight by the police watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission. Civil liberties groups criticised the NSW Police’s attempt to invoke rarely used anti-riot laws for the first time in over a decade against Thomas

Police initially brought a charge connected to causing a public disturbance, but dropped it. Thomas has also been charged with hindering or resisting police and not following a move-on direction.

Having reviewed police body-worn camera evidence of a pro-Palestinian protest in Sydney, Hannah Thomas’s lawyer Peter O’Brien says it’s clear that police punched Ms Thomas in the face, causing grievous bodily harm. He has written to NSW Police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions demanding the charges be dropped. He also has instructions to proceed on a civil claim seeking compensation for the actions that led to her injury.

“Torts likely to be pursued against the state include assault and battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, misfeasance in public office, and collateral abuse of process. I am satisfied that Ms Thomas was punched in the face by a male police officer, causing extensive and serious injury to her eye … We are further satisfied that Ms Thomas was an innocent victim of gratuitous police brutality and excessive use of force, actions that were completely and entirely unjustifiable. It cannot be known what goes through the mind of a police officer who uses gratuitous violence like this, but the context and timing appear unavoidably revealing.“

Greens MP and spokesperson for Justice Sue Higginson said, ‘Now the evidence is clearer, I am calling for the actual offenders, the police, to be charged and those members of the community who were lawfully protesting for peace, who were assaulted, harmed and wrongly arrested, detained and charged by police to be released from further persecution. Justice has run away, in the wrong direction for weeks now, and it’s got to be stopped.’

Ms Thomas posted a video to Instagram on Sunday night, thanking people for their support.

“I don’t want to get into too much detail about the traumatic events on Friday, but I’m 5’1″, I weigh about 45 kilos. I was engaged in peaceful protests, and my interactions with NSW Police have left me potentially without vision in my right eye permanently. What I’m going through was “obviously nothing compared to what people in Gaza are going through because of Israel“.

Physical violence

X	Arrest
	Detention / Custody
X	Hustle / Projection
	Prone position / lying flat on the stomach / ventral decubitus
	“Folding” (holding a person in a seated position with their head resting on their knees)
	Painful armlock
X	Kicks, punches, slaps
	Feet / knees on the nape of the neck, chest or face
	Blows to the victim while under control and/or on the ground
	Blows to the ears
	Strangulation / chokehold
	Fingers forced backwards
	Spraying with water
	Dog bites
	Hair pulling
	Painful tightening of colson ties or handcuffs
	Painfully pulling by colson ties or handcuffs
	Sexual abuse
	Striking with a police vehicle
	Use of gloves
	Use of firearm
	Use of “Bean bags” (a coton sack containing tiny lead bullets)
	Use of FlashBall weapon
	Use of sound grenade
	Use of dispersal grenade
	Use of teargas grenade
	Use of rubber bullets weapon (LBD40 type)
	Use of batons
	Use of Pepper Spray
	Use of Taser gun
	Use of tranquillisers
	Disappearance

Psychological violence

X	Charge of disturbing public order
	Charge of rebellion
	Accusation of beatings to officer
	Charge of threatening officer
	Charge of insulting an officer
	Charge of disrespect
X	Charge of resisting arrest
	Aggressive behaviour, disrespect, insults
	Intimidation, blackmail, threats
	Vexing or intimidating identity check
	Intimidation or arrest of witnesses
	Prevented from taking photographs or from filming the scene
	Calls to end torment remained unheeded
	Prolonged uncomfortable position
	Failure to assist a person in danger
	Photographs, fingerprints, DNA
	Threat with a weapon
	Shooting in the back
	Charging without warning
	Kettling (corraling protestors to isolate them from the rest of the demonstration)
	Car chase
	Sexist remarks
	Homophobic remarks
	Racist comments
	Intervention in a private place
	Mental health issues
	Harassment
	Body search
	Home search
	Violence by fellow police officers
	Passivity of police colleagues
	Lack or refusal of the police officer to identify him or herself
	Refusal to notify someone or to telephone
	Refusal to administer a breathalyzer
	Refusal to fasten the seatbelt during transport
	Refusal to file a complaint
	Refusal to allow medical care or medication
	Lies, cover-ups, disappearance of evidence
	Undress before witnesses of the opposite sex
	Bend down naked in front of witnesses
	Lack of surveillance or monitoring during detention
	Lack of signature in the Personal Effects Register during detention
	Deprivation during detention (water, food)
	Inappropriate sanitary conditions during detention (temperature, hygiene, light)
	Confiscation, deterioration, destruction of personal effects
	Pressure to sign documents
	Absence of a report
	Complacency of doctors

12.08.2025 – Due to appear at Bankstown Local Court to face charges of hindering or resisting a police officer and refusing to comply with a direction to disperse
27.06.2025 – Aggression on Hannah

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hannah Thomas (@hannah4grayndler)

December 5, 2017, Castlemaine police station – Victoria

55-year-old. Arrested for drunkenness : died in custody after hitting her forehead on the cell wall…

The inquest into the death in custody of Aboriginal woman Tanya Day has been shown footage of her hitting her forehead on the cell wall less than a minute after she was checked by police.

That impact, which occurred shortly before 5pm, caused a brain haemorrhage but was undetected until 8.03pm, when police noticed a lump on her head and called an ambulance. The 55-year-old Yorta Yorta woman died in hospital 17 days later.

CCTV footage played in court on Monday shows that Tanya hit her head five times while in holding cell one at Castlemaine police station on 5 December 2017.

It also showed police straightening cushions before they approached Tanya when they entered the cell at 8.03pm, and bend over her for several seconds before lifting her back on to the bench and covering her with a blanket.

The first fall was at 4.20pm, just 25 minutes after she was left alone in the cell to “sober up” after being arrested for public drunkenness.

It shows she hit the back of her bed after falling back when sitting down on the bed, after roaming unsteadily around the cell. At 4.44pm she stands up, walks unsteadily towards the water fountain on the cell wall, then stumbles backward, hitting the back of her head again as she fell on the bed.

Police guidelines state that intoxicated people should be subject to a physical cell check every 30 minutes, but sergeant Edwina Neale told the inquest she requested 20-minute checks because Tanya was “more vulnerable”.

Neale said that was then changed to a physical check every 40 minutes, with a check on CCTV monitors in between, because Wolters told her that Tanya was “becoming a bit distressed and asking to go home and he felt she would be better if she was left to sleep a bit longer in between checks”.

Cairnes initially told the inquest that he saw Tanya standing in the cell as Wolters called out: “Tanya, are you OK?”

Due to the thickness of the cell walls, he said, he did not hear what Tanya said in response, but he said she did give a verbal response and Wolters “seemed satisfied by that”.

Justice and Light for Tanya, her family and friends !

Physical violence

	Kicks, punches, slaps
	Feet / knees on the nape of the neck, chest or face
	Blows to the victim while under control and/or on the ground
	Blows to the ears
	Strangulation / chokehold
	Painful armlock
	Fingers forced backwards
	Spraying with water
	Dog bites
	Hair pulling
	Tirage par les cheveux
	Painful tightening of colson ties or handcuffs
	Painfully pulling by colson ties or handcuffs
	Use of gloves
	Use of firearm
	Use of “Bean bags” (a coton sack containing tiny lead bullets)
	Use of FlashBall weapon
	Use of sound grenade
	Use of dispersal grenade
	Use of teargas grenade
	Use of rubber bullets weapon (LBD40 type)
	Use of batons
	Use of Pepper Spray
	Use of Taser gun

Psychological violence

	Charge of disturbing public order
	Charge of rebellion
	Accusation of beatings to officer
	Charge of threatening officer
	Charge of insulting an officer
	Threat with a weapon
	Aggressive behaviour, disrespect, insults
	Calls to end torment remained unheeded
	Sexist remarks
	Homophobic remarks
	Racist comments
	Violence by fellow police officers
	Passivity of police colleagues
	Lack or refusal of the police officer to identify him or herself
	Vexing or intimidating identity check
	Intimidation or arrest of witnesses
	Prevented from taking photographs or from filming the scene
	Refusal to notify someone or to telephone
	Refusal to administer a breathalyzer
	Refusal to fasten the seatbelt during transport
	Refusal to file a complaint
X	Refusal to allow medical care or medication
	Lies, cover-ups, disappearance of evidence
	Undress before witnesses of the opposite sex
	Bend down naked in front of witnesses
X	Lack of surveillance or monitoring during detention
	Lack of signature in the Personal Effects Register during detention
	Confiscation, deterioration, destruction of personal effects
	Pressure to sign documents
	Absence of a report
	Deprivation during detention (water, food)
	Inappropriate sanitary conditions during detention (temperature, hygiene, light)
	Complacency of doctors
	Kettling (corraling protestors to isolate them from the rest of the demonstration)
	Prolonged uncomfortable position

22.12.2017 – Death of Tanya
05.12.2017 – Arrest of Tanya

Lawyer :
Collective :
Donations :