A law clamping down on protests following the deadly Bondi Beach terror attack targeting Australia’s Jewish community was overturned by a court on Thursday, a written ruling showed.

Activists had challenged the New South Wales legislation, enacted 10 days after the December 14 massacre that killed 15 people and wounded dozens at a beachside Hanukkah candle-lighting event.

Australia launched ​a government-backed inquiry into antisemitism and social cohesion, with findings due by December. The government has already strengthened gun laws ​and introduced new hate speech legislation following the Bondi massacre.

The protest law gave police the power to restrict public assemblies in declared areas, making it impossible to get a permit for any protests and allowing officers to order people to move away.

The state government pushed for the crackdown to protect cohesion and community safety at a time of high tensions, the Court of Appeal heard.

But the legal provisions were “constitutionally impermissible,” Chief Justice Andrew Bell found in a written ruling.

They effectively discouraged all forms of protest in the declared area, irrespective of the purpose and possible impact on social cohesion, he said.

“The impugned provisions infringe the implied freedom of political communication,” the court ruled, declaring them........

© The Times of Israel