Tensions are rising outside the funeral of Cardinal George Pell as Catholic supporters confront and clash with protesters.
Australia’s most senior Catholic will be laid to rest in a service at 11am on Thursday after he died from complications arising from hip replacement surgery in January.
Daily Mail Australia filmed an irate Pell supporter confronting protesters outside St Mary’s Cathedral on Thursday morning just before the funeral started inside the Sydney church.
The supporter, dressed in a grey t-shirt and shorts, yelled at two protesters holding a ‘Pell burn in hell’ banner across the road from the cathedral with the word ‘hell’ painted as if it was on fire.
‘We want that taken down,’ the supporter told the police officer, who was trying to calm the man.
The supporter then spoke directly to the two protesters holding the sign.
‘Take it down, you’re aggravating a lot of f**king people,’ he said.
A woman next to him, dressed in business clothes, was holding a sign that read ‘anti-Catholic bigotry must end’.
Police managed to get the protesters to move the signs (pictured) further away from the cathedral
The Catholic supporter clashed with protesters
The man could then be heard asking a protester if they had ‘looked in the mirror’ and asked them ‘are you a dyke?’
Dyke is a homophobic slur, typically used against lesbians.
‘I do not respond to dykes so please move, you’re a dyke, that’s not hate speech. Go film your own people, you are not welcome here, go take your f**king sign off, get your people to move, they can go f**k themselves,’ he yelled.
NSW Police on Wednesday predicted there would be clashes after hundreds of protesters were given the green light to hold a protest outside the funeral.
The activists are protesting Cardinal Pell’s public opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion rights as well as a child sexual abuse conviction that he was ultimately cleared of.
Thousands of mourners also descended on the cathedral on Thursday, including groups of nuns, politicians and dignitaries.
Nuns arriving to pay their respects to George Pell
Thousands are expected to attend St Mary’s Cathedral to farewell George Pell
Another group of nuns pictured outside the church holding an umbrella with a cherub on it
It comes as officers were called to the cathedral late Wednesday night after mourners approached child abuse activists who had been tying ribbons to the fence.
Footage captured by 9News showed supporters of the cardinal allegedly shouting at the silent protesters.
Police officers were seen breaking up the crowd and talking to people following the clash.
Read Related Also: Keke Palmer’s BF Darius Daulton Shares First Look At Their Unborn Child
The Today Show filmed police officers sweeping the church on Thursday morning.
‘They have done a sweep inside the church. There are the last half-a-dozen police cars stationed here,’ reporter Lara Vella said.
‘They have been keeping a close eye on a particular group of men who have been doing laps of St Mary’s Cathedral. I have seen them lots and lots of times.’
Clashes outside St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney ahead of Cardinal George Pell funeral
Riot police out in force on Thursday morning ahead of the funeral
Clashes outside St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney ahead of Cardinal George Pell funeral. Picture: 9News
Hundreds of mourners gather outside St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney
NSW Police announced it would attempt to stop the protest in the Supreme Court over ‘safety concerns’ on Tuesday.
But the court was told on Wednesday that ‘alternative arrangements’ to use a different route had been made with protest organisers had been made.
Protesters are allowed to march through Hyde Park and will stand at the square outside the cathedral.
Outside court, Acting Assistant Commissioner Martin Fileman told media it was ‘never the intention’ to stop or oppose any protest activity.
He said there was a ‘risk’ of clashes between protesters and Pell supporters, which is why the ‘buffer zone’ will ‘mitigate the risk’.
CARR organiser Kim Stern told media the action by NSW Police was an attempt to ‘suppress our democratic right to protest’.
‘They tried to stop us from marching next to the church, they wanted us to march in the opposite direction … they claimed it was a security issue, a safety issue,’ Mr Stern said.
‘I think if we were denied the right to march right up opposite the church … those people would have been very happy if they could have gone in unperturbed by that.’
Mr Stern said it was a massive victory for the activists, who will be able to have their voices heard.
‘Now we’re able to march up right opposite the church and have our voices heard, have a loud, visible, angry rally that’s going to be hearing from survivors of abuse in the Catholic Church,’ he said.
Cardinal Pell served 406 days of a six-year sentence over child sexual abuse allegations but always maintained his innocence.
The High Court overturned the decision in 2020.
The funeral will be attended by conservative figures from across the country, including leaders of the Catholic Church and Coalition leader Peter Dutton.
NSW MP Damien Tudehope will represent Premier Dominic Perrottet at the funeral due to ‘prior commitments.
The 81-year-old Cardinal Pell died in Rome in January after complications following a hip replacement surgery.
