‘Questions of excessive force': Major escalation in Hannah Thomas arrest probe
Internal affairs police have taken over the probe into Thomas' arrest, which was launched after she suffered a serious eye injury when police disrupted the protest, and are now investigating whether she was assaulted, sources say.
It comes after the Herald revealed body-worn footage from the arrest showed Thomas suffered a serious eye injury when an officer punched her in the face during her arrest, according to lawyers and police sources.
Thomas was injured after police broke up the protest outside SEC Plating on June 27, a business in Belmore demonstrators say supplies plating services for F-35 jets used by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
She was told to 'prepare for the worst' including the possibility she will never see out of her right eye again.
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NSW Police on June 30 declared a critical incident, which tasked Campbelltown police command to investigate the actions of the officers who arrested Thomas.
Thomas was charged with resisting arrest and refusing an order to disperse on the same day.
The NSW Police executive called for an interim briefing on Tuesday and concluded the evidence raised 'questions of excessive force'.
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Jasmine Duff, a leader of the Deakin University encampment, told the inquiry she had been tipped off that gardeners were instructed to disrupt the protesters' sleep, including one incident where they were woken at 2am. Ms Duff, the co-convenor of Students for Palestine, testified that universities had been "extraordinarily repressive" towards students who wished to protest. "Students have been put through serious disciplinary procedures, risking their degrees, for participating in peaceful protests against the genocide in Gaza," she said. "Universities should be havens of free speech and debate, but instead those who speak out against the brutal onslaught in Gaza are punished." The inquiry comes shortly after the federal government received recommendations from a major anti-Semitism report. The nation's special envoy against anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, called for the defunding of universities and cultural institutions that enable or fail to prevent anti-Semitism.
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