TWENTY-FIVE SYDNEY PROTESTERS TO FACE JOINT TRIAL OVER HERZOG VISIT

Twenty-five people charged in connection with protests against a visit by Israeli president Isaac Herzog will face a joint trial in Sydney. The six-week trial is scheduled to begin in July next year. The defendants had their matters heard at Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday. Their lawyers made a successful application for the cases to be joined and heard together.

New South Wales police commissioner Mal Lanyon is among the witnesses expected to appear at the trial. The charges relate to protests held during Herzog's visit to Australia. Downing Centre Local Court is the venue where the initial procedural hearing took place. The decision to consolidate the cases into a single six-week trial was granted following the defence application.

The joint trial represents one of the larger group prosecutions to proceed through the New South Wales courts in connection with protest activity. The July start date gives both prosecution and defence several months to prepare their cases. Mal Lanyon's expected appearance as a witness places the New South Wales police service formally within the proceedings. The outcome of the trial will apply across all twenty-five defendants heard together.