Man (bun) behind the rallies for Palestine

A protest firebrand, who has galvanised the pro-Palestinian rallies through Sydney’s CBD at a cost of $5.4m to taxpayers this year, is a serial activist who rallied against the government lifting lockdown restrictions during Covid.

Yet socialist Josh Lees, 41, a member of the Palestine Action Group, was slapped with two fines after he was found guilty for not complying with Covid rules in 2020.

Distinguishable by his “man bun” and often seen in a red Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, Lees, 41, from Newtown in Sydney’s inner west, has been a fervent activist for two decades, campaigning for LGBT rights, climate change, anti-racism and for Black Lives Matter movements.

As spokesman for the Lockdown to Zero Covid group – a socialist-run campaign pushing to lock NSW down until there were zero cases in 2021 – the University of Sydney graduate said allowing shops and workplaces to remain open was the “primary cause” of the virus spreading.

“It is a crucial fight for the lives of thousands of working-class people and the poor in particular, against a right-wing, ruling-class offensive aimed at supporting profits over our health,” Mr Lees told Sydney Criminal Lawyers.

He has also been active in the Socialist Alternative, a fringe far-left political party, whose newsletter Red Flag he has written for since 2004.

In October 2011 he was one of dozens arrested at Martin Place during the “Occupy Sydney” protest.

That year he was charged with actual resist and hinder police officer in execution of duty – a charge later dismissed. He was also charged with fail to comply with terms of notice erected by council and a separate charge of assault office in execution of duty. Both charges were also subsequently dismissed.

Mr Lees, who has lodged an application to NSW Police every seven days for 52 weeks to march through Sydney’s streets since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, has infuriated NSW Premier Chris Minns who is reviewing the ­powers given to police to enable them to deny a request to protest if resources are scant.

Mr Lees said he supported the Palestine Action Group because “every human being, when they see a genocide, should oppose it”.

“We wish Minns was as concerned with stopping this genocide as he was with stopping people protesting against genocide,” he said. “We are a mass movement and we will keep protesting to stop this genocide and to stop Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.”