Key Facts:
Free Speech
Authoritarian Over-Reach
Sovereignty and Independence
International Relations
State Law
Australian Constitution
Palestinian Rights
Edward Carroll, Queensland State Leader of the Australian Progressives and member of Brisbane Jewish collective Doykeit, said on camera,
"The laws they have put forward do not protect us as Jewish people. They are not about combating antisemitism — they are about silencing dissent and support for Palestine. When I held that sign and said that phrase, I was arrested.
Quotes
"As a leader of the Queensland Progressives and as a Jewish Australian, I was arrested yesterday under antisemitism laws. Crisafulli's laws are racist and undemocratic and we are sending a clear message – these are not our laws."
20 people were arrested on Saturday 18 April 2026 at Justice for Palestine (JFP) Magandjin's Not Our Laws protest against Queensland's recently introduced hate speech laws. Hundreds of people gathered at Emma Miller Place at 1pm to defy the laws, as part of a weekend of action that saw a flash mob form on Friday night with hundreds singing and dancing to John Farnham's 'Two Strong Hearts'.
Among those arrested on Saturday were Jewish speakers Edward Carroll and Stephen Heydt, and Palestinian Australian Zac Karanikich. Arrestees were released after being detained in the Brisbane Watchhouse for around six hours. They now face 14 charges of displaying a prohibited expression and seven charges of reciting a prohibited expression.
Stephen Heydt, who grew up in South Africa as a child of holocaust survivors and was active against apartheid from the age of 16, and has since worked with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Save the Children and the Danish Refugee Council, in Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. Stephen Heydt said,
"Jewish people have been arrested under antisemitism laws for standing with Palestinians and against Israel's genocide in Gaza. These are Israel's laws. They don't protect Jews – they protect a government committing a genocide - and we say these are not in our laws.
"I grew up in South Africa and I know what Apartheid is, but even South Africa didn't kill more than 70,000 and ethnically cleanse millions. As a Jewish Australian, I am here to say - not in our name."
Palestinian Australian was arrested, Zac Karanikich from students for Palestine Palestinian Australian Zac Karanikich hoped "One day we can win a world where this type of violence never happens again."
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