A far-left aboriginal pro-Palestine protester who allegedly bit a police officer during an arrest has pleaded not guilty and asked for a bail variation so he can attend Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
Jace Turner, 28, was already on two sets of bail for three assault charges, one domestic violence-related when he was granted bail again after being charged with assaulting a police officer in the execution, causing actual bodily harm over the incident during a rally against Israeli President Isaac Herzog on February 2.
Footage of Turner being held on the ground and repeatedly struck by two riot police officers went viral on social media, but police allege Turner first slapped an officer and then bit one of their thumbs with “extreme force” after he was taken to the ground to be arrested, drawing blood.
🚨🇦🇺 Meanwhile in Sydney, Australia
This clip Australian police brutalising a protester in Sydney whilst he is completely incapacitated on the floor is going viral.
The protest was over Israeli President Issac Herzog and his visit to Australia‼️ pic.twitter.com/xncSnLyQ2b
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) February 9, 2026
Turner faced Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday draped in a Palestinian scarf and walking with a cane, and his lawyer Michael Stone entered a not guilty plea and asked for his client’s night-time curfew to be removed so he could attend the homosexual festival on the weekend, The Daily Telegraph reported.
“The Mardi Gras celebration is important to Mr Turner’s identity,” Mr Stone, from the Aboriginal Legal Service, told the court.
But Magistrate Greg Grogin admonished the far-left protester for his scarf, telling him: “This is not a place for protest, this is not a place for political opinions, this is a place of law … not impressed.”
He rejected the bail variation request on the grounds Turner had already breached his previous curfew by attending the protest where he was arrested.
Mr Grogin also read from police facts alleging Turner violently resisted arrest and ignored police instructions before biting the officers thumb and refusing to let go, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
According to the police facts the officer sought hospital treatment, and Grogin read: “The force of the bite allegedly pierced the skin … His injuries show substantial bruising.”
Asked by 9News outside court about whether the bite or the punches came first Turner declined to comment.
Header image: Left, Jace Turner outside court. Right, during the arrest (9News).
