In The Spirit of Fairness, I am posting these photos of the various protest against the WYD and the Pope during the WYD in Sydney. — Hundred of people rallied in central Sydney today to oppose Pope Benedict XVI’s stand against condoms, homosexuality and abortion. The crowd assembled in Darlinghurst before a march towards Randwick Racecourse, where the Pope will tomorrow hold mass for up to 500,000 people. Many of the hundreds of people rallied by the NoToPope Coalition, were wearing shirts emblazoned with slogans including “Bless me father for I am homo”, “Thank God I’m an atheist” and “If God hates fags then I hate God”. The coalition won the right to “annoy” World Youth Day (WYD) pilgrims in a court battle earlier this week.

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The Federal Court struck out the section of the clause in WYD regulations that made it illegal to “annoy” participants, punishable by a $5500 fine. It is still an offence to inconvenience pilgrims. “We did it, we made it here,” NoToPope Coalition spokeswoman Rachel Evans said today. “We’re really happy with the turnout. A total of 6000 condoms will be offered to WYD pilgrims during the protest march. The coalition says the Pope’s views constitute a conspiracy to murder, because opposition to condoms leads to more people becoming infected with HIV.

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said he hoped today’s demonstration would remain peaceful. “We acknowledge, in fact we facilitate, lawful protest,” Mr Scipione said. Led by a ute truck with an effigy of the Pope in the tray, the demonstrators walked to Moore Park chanting “the Pope is wrong, put a condom on”, lobbing inflated condoms into the air. Young Catholics lunching in the park packed up their belongings and moved on as the NoToPope group arrived and ignored the offered condoms. New Zealand pilgrim Brittany Francis, 18, said she wasn’t fazed by the demonstration. “They’ve all got their own opinions,” she said as she made her way towards the racecourse, where a vigil will be held tonight.

“We’ve got our own beliefs and we’re not going to change it because of them.”