NSW Police say they will have “significant resources” in and around Sydney, ahead of expected pro-Palestine protests at the weekend.

NSW Police commissioner Karen Webb said it would be a “high-visibility operation to ensure the safety of the community” amid heightened concerns about a rally and a vigil planned for, respectively, Sunday and Monday.

“The protest organisers have agreed that no flags, portraits, or symbols connected to a prohibited terrorist organisation will be displayed,” she said.

“Police will not hesitate to take appropriate, proportionate action against anyone who commits a criminal offence.”

Concerns also emerged on Friday about a “rally for Palestine and Lebanon” planned for Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque.

Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said there would be an “appropriate police presence”.

“Fortunately, there has been lots of negotiation and, with the people holding that rally, [and] as I understand it, the policing presence will be appropriate. And that’s what I’d say right across the Sydney metropolitan area this weekend,” he said.

Monday marks the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the start of a counter-attack that has all but levelled the homes of 2.1 million Gazans.

Debate has swirled around how appropriate it is to demonstrate on the date of a massacre. Organisers say planned events are vigils to remember the thousands of Gazans killed in the past year.

NSW Premier Chris Minns will attend a vigil organised by Jewish leaders, but has called for pro-Palestinian groups to pause activities for the day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said October 7 marked the day when there was the greatest loss of Jewish life since World War II.

“I say to others thinking of other actions on October 7, think about what your cause is being advanced or set back,” he said.

“This, in my mind, should be very much a solemn day that occurs, where we recognise this horror that occurred on October 7.”

Rally organisers have resisted political pressure and court action to cancel events this weekend, dismissing suggestions their gathering would be provocative or sickening to the Jewish community or risked public safety.

Last weekend, protesters were joined by supporters for Lebanese militant group Hezbollah – a proscribed terrorist organisation in Australia – following Israel’s assassination of the group’s leader.

There were yellow Hezbollah flags and images of leader Hassan Nasrallah at marches in Sydney and Melbourne. One woman has been charged.

A deal struck between police and protest organisers late on Thursday means Sunday’s Sydney event will start at Hyde Park, rather than the usual Sydney Town Hall venue.

Octogenarians Jacki and Neil Dand said they planned to attend the Sydney rally, having made the long trip from their home on the Hawkesbury River more than 40 times for the weekly pro-Palestine rallies in the past year.

They were baffled at the recent police opposition, given the long history of peaceful demonstration.

“We have the right to protest and they have no reason to stop us,” Ms Dand, 84, said.

“I don’t know why [the protests] are a problem now, just because it is this weekend.”

Similar rallies are also planned in other capital cities, notably Melbourne and Adelaide.

Hamas massacred about 1200 people and took another 250 hostage during a surprise invasion on October 7, 2023, according to Israel.

A counter-attack in occupied Gaza has killed more than 41,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, with the majority of its more than two million residents facing starvation.

More than 3.1 million Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, which Hamas has never controlled, have also faced tightened restrictions, the United Nations says.

Also on Friday, federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton falsely suggested police said they would have zero tolerance for any pro-Palestinian rallies on October 7, but he welcomed signals that supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah would face arrest.

“People who are out supporting glorifying leaders of terrorist organisations, they should be held to account and they should be condemned for their actions,” he said.

-with AAP