Hawzah News Agency- Footage circulated on social media, and shared by Greens senator David Shoebridge, showed Muslim men kneeling in prayer during the demonstration outside Sydney's Town Hall.
One of the men captured on video being thrown to the ground was Shahbaz Jamal, who said the group had deliberately positioned themselves away from police and foot traffic before beginning prayer.
Jamal said they chose to "strategically pray far away from where the police were", adding that a group of fellow protesters had formed a protective perimeter around them.
"During the prayer itself, there was a perimeter of people protecting us — so we had human shields, if you want to call them that'', Jamal told SBS News.
"They were communicating to the police quite clearly that we were in prayer and the police didn't care''.
Jamal said he was thrown by police as he was rising from prostration — the moment in prayer where worshippers kneel and place their heads on the ground.
"I didn't expect it to happen here in Sydney''.
"They came in like a wrecking ball. They bulldozed the back of the prayer, which had females praying … Then they decided to select us one at at time and throw us like we're nothing, like we're pieces of rubbish''.
Azhar Bhuiyan was praying beside Jamal and said the incident was "absolutely traumatising", for him being only 18 years old.
"We were sitting down, we were in prayer — it's one of the five prayers we pray in one day — sitting there and being absolutely heckled, our t-shirts being grabbed, us being kicked in the back'', Bhuiyan told SBS News.
NSW Police commissioner, Mal Lanyon said he had apologised to Muslim community leaders "for any offence that may have been taken" following the incident.
It comes as Human Rights Watch (HRW) found "excessive force" was used by NSW Police against protesters, including those kneeling in prayer.
The New South Wales government should investigate the alleged police use of excessive force and appropriately discipline or prosecute those responsible'', HRW wrote in a statement Tuesday evening.
Source: SBS
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