NSW Police have defended their handling of a wild pro-Palestine demonstration outside the Sydney Opera House, amid widespread condemnation of protesters who lit flares and chanted anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Monday night’s rally, which drew up to 1000 people and lasted three hours, started at Town Hall but moved to the opera house as the venue’s sails were lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag.

On Tuesday, NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke commended officers at the protest, saying that managing the rally – rather than preventing it – was “the best option”.

“In the circumstances, it was considered the best option for police was to manage the movement of those people from Sydney Town Hall to the opera house, to ensure that we were able to … get them to a place where we could manage the rally in its form and to prevent the risk of conflict,” Cooke said.

“We were able to manage that to ensure there was no conflict last night. We are continuing to work across all communities, and all communities can be assured that we will continue to, so that they are free to go about their business without fear.”

Other Australian landmarks, including Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station and Adelaide Oval, were also lit in blue and white to show solidarity with the Jewish community after Islamist group Hamas attacked Israeli towns on Saturday.

The group sent fighters across the border into Israel and fired thousands of rockets in an unprecedented attack on Saturday.

At least 900 people have reportedly been killed in Israel and more than 600 have been killed in Gaza.

Hamas militants have taken Israelis hostage, with Reuters reporting the group, which controls Gaza in the Palestine territories, has threatened to execute captives on live television if civilian houses are bombed.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said it was a great shame Sydney’s Jewish community was unable to show solidarity with Israel, after police asked people to stay home because of the protest.

“The police are obviously going to make operational decisions, but we do need to make changes to ensure that Jewish communities can commemorate when they need to come together in solidarity,” he told ABC TV on Tuesday.

“The situation where [Jewish communities] are told not to come into the city, despite it being an operational decision … that’s intolerable for the future.”

But Minns also described scenes of protestors alleging yelling anti-Semitic chants as “shocking, abusive and potentially a crime”. There are reports the chants included calls to “gas the Jews”.

The government and police have pledged to consult with Jewish leaders to ensure communities could safely mourn those affected by the Israel attacks.

Cooke said NSW Police had spoken “very clearly with members of the Jewish community”, who then “made a decision not to attend”.

One Jewish man was dragged from the protest by police after he arrived carrying an Israeli flag – “for his safety”, Cooke said.

“I understand [his] view very clearly … but also very clearly that situation caused and could have caused significant risk to him,” Cooke said.

“This is not about us condoning, supporting or facilitating any process.”

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Former Liberal MP Dave Sharma also lashed out at the decision to tell the Jewish community to stay away.

“[That] they were specifically told by Sydney police to stay away, indicates a chronic failure or breakdown with the NSW Police or the NSW Police Minister’s office,” he told ABC TV.

“This protest should not have been allowed to go ahead and certainly not on the route that they planned. They should have found another location or another evening for that to happen. It was incredibly insensitive and I think that some of the chants that the crowd were chanting amount to racial incitement. They were despicable.”

One of the rally’s organisers, Fahad Ali, also took to social media on Tuesday afternoon to condemn the anti-Semitic chants.

Tweet from @fahad_s_ali

“This behaviour was not only vulgar, but completely selfish: It has served as a distraction from the immense human suffering in Gaza and calls for genocide and collective punishment by Israeli officials,” Ali wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“Don’t come to our rallies if you’re looking to start trouble. You’re not welcome, we don’t want you there, and we do not have the time to be dealing with your mess when we are trying to shine a light on the ongoing massacre of our people.”

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Police are examining CCTV footage as they consider their next steps.

“We will attempt to identify people who committed offences and will take appropriate actions to put them before the courts where it is possible,” Cooke said.

“This is NSW, we do not expect people to bring conflict from other places to the streets of Sydney and violence will not be tolerated.

“We were able to manage that to ensure that there was no conflict last night.”

Cooke said police understood the conflict in Israel was highly emotive.

“But people should also respect the fact that we are very much a multicultural, multifaith community and we need people to respect each other’s rights and observations,” he said.

NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the protest should never have been approved.

“It was disgraceful and deplorable that we’re seeing scenes like that in Australia,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.

“This was meant to be a chance for our Jewish community to have a peaceful vigil … and instead it’s allowed to be hijacked by a rowdy mob shouting anti-Semitic slogans, lighting flares and burning a flag.”

-with AAP