NoToPope protesters handed out condoms on the steps of Sydney's Federal Court yesterday after judges ruled they were free to ''annoy'' Catholic World Youth Day pilgrims.
Activists hailed as a victory for free speech the court's decision to strike out a clause in Youth Day regulations that made it a crime to ''annoy'' participants, punishable by a $5500 fine.
One of the two activists who challenged the NSW Government powers, Rachel Evans, said the decision was a significant victory for the protest movement.
Sporting an anti-Pope T-shirt for which she could previously have been fined, Ms Evans immediately began handing out condoms to Catholic pilgrims posing for photographs outside a nearby church.
Some international visitors accepted condoms before dropping them with distaste once they realised what they had been given.
The NSW Government and police said the ruling would have no impact on policing of the six-day event, which began yesterday.
The court struck the words ''annoyance or'' out of Youth Day regulations which originally referred to ''conduct that causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event''.
NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the court had struck out two words inconvenience was still there and it achieved the same objective.
''People who want to make a point, if it's a protest, can do so, without disrupting the pilgrims or the events,'' he said.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said he respected the court's ruling, and people's right to protest. ''But with that right comes a responsibility to act within the law,'' he said.
''I hope those who do protest are mindful that this state is playing host to thousands of guests who have come here in a very positive and festive frame of mind.''
The event was ''not APEC'', and would not be policed in the same way as the high-security summit of world leaders, Mr Scipione said.
Protesters launched a similar case against police powers for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last year, without success.
Secretary for the NSW Council for Civil Liberties Stephen Blanks said the ruling was a ''slap over the wrist'' for the NSW Government.
The NSW Law Society said the annoyance clause created uncertainty and confusion ''in no small part because it was never debated, thought through or properly discussed'' in Parliament.
Society president Hugh Macken said ''happily, it's not illegal to be annoying''.
Head of the NSW Greens Sylvia Hale said the ''ridiculous and excessive'' regulations were not properly scrutinised by parliamentary process.
Ms Evans and her colleague, Amber Pike, plan to hand out condoms and coathangers, symbolising backyard abortions, to protest against the Vatican's position on contraception and sexuality.
The NoToPope Coalition intends to approach pilgrims as they trek from North Sydney to Royal Randwick racecourse for Sunday's final mass, expected to be attended by up to 500,000 people. AAP
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