Muslim firestorm erupts over Karl Stefanovic remark about prayers throughout violent protest: ‘Baiting police’

Karl Stefanovic has copped fierce criticism from Australian Muslim leaders after he suggested men performing sunset prayers during a protest in Sydney may have been ‘baiting’ police. 

Pro-Palestine protesters who gathered at Sydney Town Hall to protest Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s arrival on Monday were pepper-sprayed, arrested, beaten and shoved by police.

One widely shared video showed a group of Muslim men kneeling in prayer before officers moved in and hauled them away. In one clip, a man was yanked to his feet and dragged aside by officers as others pushed the group away.

However, on Tuesday morning, Today show host Karl Stefanovic suggested to NSW Premier Chris Minns that the action could have ‘baited’ police.

‘So Muslims praying in the city as well, Premier – whether it was legitimate prayer or they were baiting police, who knows,’ Stefanovic said.

‘But that will be weaponised against the force, you know that.’

Minns later defended officers, claiming they had been dealing with a riot.

‘I want to make it clear there is … no suggestion, under any circumstances, that police would have wanted to cause offence to people praying, or get in the way of people lawfully exercising their religion,’ he said. 

Today show host Karl Stefanovic suggested to Premier Chris Minns that men praying during the protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s arrival in Sydney could have ‘baited’ police

Men taking part in daily prayers at sunset were yanked to their feet by police sparking uproar in the Muslim community

‘NSW Police have had a strong and cooperative relationship with Sydney’s Islamic Arabic community going back decades. But context is important here.

‘It was in effect in the middle of a riot. Now, police have to make critical, early decisions in those circumstances.

‘I think fair-minded people would look at the context of that interaction before condemning New South Wales police.’

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Dr Rateb Jneid condemned Stefanovic’s ‘baiting’ comment, saying worshippers were simply exercising their right to religious observance. 

The prayer took place around sunset, when Muslims typically perform Maghreb, the fourth of five mandatory daily prayers. 

‘The suggestion that Muslims praying in public were somehow provoking police is wrong and deeply unfair,’ Dr Jneid told the Daily Mail.

‘This was Maghreb prayer, which occurs within a very limited time window, and people were simply exercising their lawful right to religious observance. 

On Tuesday, Minns claimed police were ‘in the middle of a riot’

‘Redirecting attention away from police conduct and onto worshippers engaged in prayer amounts to blaming those who were subjected to force, rather than scrutinising the use of that force itself.

‘It is the clear brutality of the actions of the Police that is at issue here and this must be fully, and independently, investigated.’

The incident has also drawn condemnation from Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, who described the footage as ‘shocking NSW Police violence against Muslims praying’.

‘I understand that NSW Police issued a move-on order to people in the street. A separate group broke away from protesters to pray in Town Hall Square,’ he wrote on social media.

‘This behaviour was unprovoked and unacceptable. This has to be condemned unequivocally. There cannot be any justification for this demeaning, aggressive and humiliating behaviour.’

Malik called on Premier Minns and the NSW Police Commissioner to apologise.

One of the attendees who led the prayer, Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, has said the group praying had stepped away from the crowd so as not to cause problems.

‘We moved 60 or 70 metres away from police to pray,’ he told Deepcut News.

‘We walked all the way from George Street to the far end to be completely out of the way… We weren’t blocking the pathway. The whole area around us was free and clear.

‘There was no reason for police to come and hassle and antagonise people who were engaged in what is the most sacred thing to us.’