Video footage has emerged capturing a New South Wales police officer boasting about “punching” a protester in the head “when he was down”, before the protester was charged with assaulting police.
Police body-worn camera footage, which was leaked to a social media account and widely shared over the weekend, reveals a male police officer telling his colleagues during the 9 February protest at Sydney town hall against a visit by the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog: “I fucking pumped that cunt.”
A female officer can be heard replying, “So funny,” before the male officer says: “Then I punched him in the head when he was down.”
Guardian Australia understands the video relates to legal proceedings from a protester who was charged with assaulting police. They were one of three protesters who on Friday had the charges against them dropped.
Police have now withdrawn charges against four of the 30 protesters charged in the wake of the protest. The three protesters who had their charges withdrawn on Friday were scheduled to face a joint hearing alongside 22 others in July 2027.
The premier, Chris Minns, had previously urged the public “to not look at a 10-second clip without the full context” after a number of videos went viral showing police allegedly punching protesters and dragging Muslim worshippers away while they were praying.
The new video of the police bragging about punching the protester is understood to be the first bodycam footage to be widely shared publicly.
In February, the independent police watchdog – the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) – launched Operation Makalu to investigate allegations of police brutality at the protest.
On Tuesday, the NSW Greens MP and spokesperson for justice, Sue Higginson, referred the leaked body-worn camera footage to the watchdog, alleging it was evidence of police misconduct.
“The police misconduct that I personally witnessed on 9 February at town hall was obscene, the impunity was something I have not ever seen before and I have no doubt it was the result of the Minns Labor government suppressing protest with invalidly made laws,” Higginson said in a statement.
“This footage shows the attitude of the police that night and should result in an immediate suspension and investigation of the officers involved.
“The Lecc is already investigating the actions of the police that night, but this evidence warrants immediate action by the NSW police.”
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A spokesperson for NSW police said they were aware of the video, but were unable to comment due to the ongoing Lecc investigation.
Guardian Australia approached Minns for comment.
The day after the protest, he said that the police were “put in an impossible situation” after protesters attempted to defy the public assembly restriction declaration (Pard) law, which police enforced during the protest.
In April, the court of appeal found that law unconstitutional, ruling in favour of the Palestine Action Group and Blak Caucus who brought a challenge against it.
Majed Kheir, a lawyer who represented two of the three protesters whose charges were on Friday withdrawn, said: “The withdrawal of a further three cases simply reflects recognition of the reality that these cases were doomed to fail.
“The brutal conduct of police on 9 February plainly went so beyond the pale. All charges should be immediately dropped as a first step to restore some level of confidence in the NSW police force that our law enforcement institution can be accountable and acknowledge their wrongdoing.”
A petition launched in June by the NSW Council for Civil Liberties calling for the charges against all the anti-Herzog protesters to be dropped has almost 3,000 signatures.
