A former Greens candidate who required surgery after allegedly being struck by police at a pro-Palestine protest says she was “sickened” by the force’s authorisation of a neo-Nazi rally on the steps of parliament, alleging it showed “a clear double standard”.

New South Wales police authorised Saturday’s neo-Nazi rally at which about 60 men clad in black called for the abolition of the Jewish lobby. The decision by NSW police was condemned as “unfathomable” on Sunday by one Jewish group.

The NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said on Saturday afternoon he was unaware the rally had been authorised under the form 1 process. He blamed a “communication error” for failing to inform the state government in advance.

_{Sign up: AU Breaking News email}

The premier, Chris Minns, said the event should not have been approved and announced a review into why police did not oppose it, as the force had previously for high-profile pro-Palestinian protests in Sydney.

Hannah Thomas underwent rounds of surgery on her right eye after being struck during a protest outside a Sydney business in June. She was charged with resisting police, failing to comply with a move-on direction and refusing to comply with a direction to disperse. All charges against her were dropped in September.

A police officer has now been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and recklessly causing grievous bodily harm. Thomas has flagged a civil claim against NSW police.

“Senior police told officers to show us zero tolerance that morning and that’s what they did,” Thomas said on Sunday.

“That’s the approach we got, compared to Nazis who have arranged to do whatever they want in front of NSW parliament.”

Thomas said she was “sickened” to see the protest had not been stopped and alleged it showed “a clear double standard”.

Sarah Schwartz, the chief executive of the Jewish Council of Australia, said it was “astounding” that the rally had been authorised. Like Thomas, she alleged there was an inconsistency in the police force’s approach to protests and rallies.

“We’ve seen entirely inconsistent police responses when it comes to addressing far-right extremism and when it comes to addressing other forms of political expression,” Schwartz said.

She told ABC TV that there was a difference between peaceful protests and “hate stunts like we saw yesterday”.

“These neo-Nazi actors in Australia are committed to pulling offensive stunts that aim to get headlines and media attention … these are not rallies. They’re acts of hate speech, and they should be considered as such.”

The chief executive of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Alon Cassuto, said it was “unfathomable police approval was given for this neo-Nazi rally to take place outside the very centre of NSW democracy”.

“We expect a full review will be undertaken to understand how this neo-Nazi rally was allowed to happen in the first place,” Cassuto said.

The rally was allowed to proceed despite controversial new laws, which came into effect in August, making it a crime to intentionally incite hatred against people because of their race, nationality or ethno-religious background.

Speaking after the neo-Nazi rally, Minns said he would consider giving police more powers to shut down racist and hateful demonstrations.

“It’s likely the case that we need to give police more legislated powers to stop this kind of naked racism and hatred on Sydney streets,” the premier said on Saturday.

Minns also admitted: “If we had our time again, that rally wouldn’t have taken place.”

The prospect of more police powers was questioned by a spokesperson for the environmental activist group Rising Tide, whose climate protest paused activity at one of the world’s biggest coal ports in 2024.

“The laws and police powers required to prevent hateful Nazi rallies already exist, and there should be a thorough investigation about why they were not used to prevent such awful displays of racism and hatred from taking place,” a Rising Tide spokesperson said on Sunday.

Arif Hussein, a senior lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre, accused the Minns government of “trying to cover up his government’s own failures in allowing a white supremacist group to openly engage in hate speech”.

“Before making another kneejerk law and order response, Minns should be focused on coming up with a real plan to combat the far right and neo-Nazis organising in his state,” Hussein said.

The NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson said she had “deep concerns” about how police were administering the form 1 system, which grants them the power to object to protests.

“How can they justify not challenging a rally for neo-Nazis to engage in antisemitism, but relentlessly challenging protests calling for a free Palestine?” Higginson said on Sunday.

Alex Ryvchin, the chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the “grotesque spectacle” should never have been allowed to occur on Saturday. But he said an increase in protest activity was partly to blame.

“[When] police have been inundated with applications for protests by professional protesters every single week for two years, these sorts of things will occur, but they shouldn’t occur,” Ryvchin told ABC TV.

Josh Lees, who organised the pro-Palestine march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge earlier this year, compared the police treatment of neo-Nazis outside parliament to protesters rallying outside a major weapons expo last week.

Police fired pepper spray against the activists who they alleged “set upon” officers trying to establish an exclusion area. Twelve people were arrested.

“Chris Minns can not use this despicable Nazi rally to pass even more anti-protest laws,” Lees said on Sunday.

“They have more than enough. The real question is why Minns and the police are not using their recently passed hate speech laws against these Nazis.”

NSW police were contacted for comment.