Police ask court to ban protest at Cardinal’s Sydney funeral

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian police plan to ask a judge to ban gay rights protesters from demonstrating outside the funeral of Cardinal George Pell in Sydney due to public safety concerns. The staunchly conservative church leader will lie in St. Mary’s Cathedral starting Wednesday and will be interred at the cathedral after a funeral Mass the following day. The New South Wales Police Force says it rejected an application by a Sydney-based gay rights group for a permit to protest outside the cathedral on Thursday due to safety concerns. It says the police commissioner will apply to the New South Wales Supreme Court to prohibit the rally.