"Religious events, including of an Islamic nature"

The ongoing protest against the Gaza genocide outside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s electorate office in Marrickville is facing the threat of legal action and forced police removal.

On April 17, legal representatives of the Anglican Church Property Trust Diocese of Sydney sent protest organisers a letter advising that they were trespassing on land owned by the Diocese, formally requesting the protest vacate the land and threatening to have police forcibly remove protesters if they do not comply.

Albanese has refused to comment on the protest outside his office, despite it running for more than two months. Pro-Palestinian protesters have been aggressively targeted by police and Zionist opponents in recent months, while state governments criminalise protest more broadly.

In response to the letter, protest organisers said: “We are staying put.”

The letter cites the recent stabbing of a bishop in Wakeley as evidence that “the protest makes it challenging to ensure safety during church services and related activities,” and claims that “MRAC’s staff and members are increasingly concerned that their church is no longer a safe space”.

Albanese’s office is in a building owned by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, which also houses a Laverty Pathology clinic and offices of Marrickville Road Anglican Church (MRAC). The letter claims “the protest is causing significant disruption and damage to MRAC” and Laverty Pathology, as “members of the public are unable (or unwilling) to access Laverty Pathology due to the presence of the protesters across the entry way to its premises”.