新南威尔士州一个地方议会拒绝展出一幅关于加沙地带儿童遇害的世界知名艺术作品，此前该议会要求主办方调查聘请“武装警卫”以应对因壁画可能引发的“社区冲突”风险。
A New South Wales local council has refused to show a world-renowned artwork about children killed in Gaza after asking organisers to investigate hiring "armed guards" to counter the risk of "community conflict" over the mural.
该团体“绍尔黑文巴勒斯坦之友”原计划于周二在瑙拉的绍尔黑文地区美术馆展出美国艺术家菲尔·比勒的《泪墙》装置艺术作品，此前该作品已在澳大利亚多地展出，包括于9月在堪培拉国会大厦前草坪。
The group, Shoalhaven Friends of Palestine, was aiming to show the Wall of Tears installation by American artist Phil Buehler at the Shoalhaven Regional Gallery in Nowra on Tuesday, following the work being exhibited around Australia, including on the front lawns of Parliament House in Canberra in September.
这幅大型艺术作品旨在纪念2023年10月7日至2025年7月19日期间在加沙地带遇害的18,457名儿童，并于1月29日首次在纽约展出，以配合欣德·拉贾布去世两周年。这名五岁女孩在以色列坦克袭击其家庭轿车后，被遗弃在六具家人尸体旁流血而死。
The massive artwork pays homage to the 18,457 children killed in Gaza between 7 October 2023 and 19 July 2025 and was first shown in New York on 29 January to coincide with the second anniversary of the death of Hind Rajab a five-year-old left to bleed out among the bodies of six family members after their car was targeted by an Israeli tank.
根据《卫报澳大利亚版》看到的一份风险评估，绍尔黑文市议会要求该团体“调查”使用“武装警卫”。评估中感知到的风险包括“抗议、反抗议、社区冲突”，以及“因政治敏感主题引发的言语辱骂、恐吓或干扰”。
Shoalhaven city council asked the group to "investigate" the use of "armed guards" in a risk assessment seen by Guardian Australia. The perceived risks included "protest, counter-protest, community conflict," and "verbal abuse, intimidation or disruption arising from politically sensitive subject matter".
议会还要求该团体将展期从八天缩减至三天，并将美术馆入场限制为仅凭回复确认函（RSVP）入场，这将意味着“大门紧锁”。
The group was also asked to reduce the exhibition window from eight days to three days and restrict attendance to RSVPs only in the gallery, which would have "locked doors".
由于担心举办展览可能给美术馆或议会带来“声誉风险”，主办方还被要求不再为该活动做宣传。
Organisers were also requested to no longer advertise the event due to potential "reputational risk" for the gallery or council due to their decision to host the exhibition.
“我们当时觉得‘你们在开玩笑吧’，但我们还是回复说会满足你们提出的所有要求，”该团体成员安内特·潘说。
"We were like, 'You've got to be kidding me,' but we still wrote back to them and said we would meet all the requirements you want," said Annette Pham, a member of the group.
“我们甚至不知道去哪里能找到武装警卫，或者是否能雇到他们。”尽管主办方已做出让步，电子邮件往来显示，议会首席执行官、前自由党议员安德鲁·康斯坦斯最终决定不举办该活动，理由是担心员工安全。
"We didn't even know where we could get armed guards, or if you could get them." Despite this, email correspondence shows Andrew Constance – the chief executive of the council and former Liberal MP – decided against hosting the event, citing staff safety concerns.
范在致市议会的信中表示，她对这一决定“深感失望”，并称“竟然有人提出，为纪念死去儿童的展览可能需要武装警卫，这种说法本身就令人深感不安”。
Pham wrote to the council stating she was "deeply disappointed" by the decision and said the "very suggestion that armed guards might be necessary for an exhibition commemorating dead children is deeply disturbing".
范在信中写道：“我们正在筹办一场纪念艺术展，而不是市议会已披露存在任何具体、可信的暴力威胁、因而需要考虑武装保护和金属安检的活动。”市议会发言人在一份声明中表示，他们考虑过这一请求，但“该装置被认为对画廊工作人员、访客和大楼租户构成不可接受的风险”。
"We are organising a memorial art exhibition, not an event for which Council has disclosed any specific credible threat of violence requiring consideration of armed protection and metal screening," Pham wrote in her A council spokesperson said in a statement that they had considered the request, but "the installation was deemed to present an unacceptable level of risk to gallery staff, visitors and tenants of the building".
对于《卫报》澳大利亚版关于究竟是什么引发了安全担忧的提问，市议会没有直接回应。范现已安排于周四在贝里联合教堂安装这件作品。“他们是孩子”比勒表示，他的作品曾在世界多座城市展出，如今却被认为构成安全风险，这让他感到震惊。
The council did not respond directly to a question from Guardian Australia about what had triggered the safety concerns. Pham has now arranged for the work to be installed at Berry Uniting Church on Thursday. 'They're children' Buehler said he was shocked his artwork, which has been shown in cities around the world, could be perceived as posing a safety risk.
“他们是孩子。他们就像你的孩子、我的孩子，”他说，并补充说作品参照的是以色列接受的死亡人数数据。这件作品取材于《卫报》的报道。
"They're children. They're like your children, my children," he said, adding it refers to death toll figures accepted by Israel The artwork draws from Guardian reporting.
“如果你看看那幅壁画上的画面……孩子们穿着小小的毕业服、拿着毕业证书，抱着足球。他们和兄弟姐妹在一起，或者坐在父亲的肩上。这是我创作过的最艰难的作品，仅仅是与（这些孩子的遭遇）共处，就要熬过创作它的那段时间。”
"If you look at the pictures on that mural … There's kids in their little graduation outfits holding diplomas, they're holding soccer balls. They're there with their siblings, or on their father's shoulder. It was the hardest artwork I've ever made, to just live with [what happened to these children], for the time it took to make it."
“如果人们愿意看一看它，这怎么会危险呢？危险是别人强加的，他们试图把它变成它本不是的东西。”这件作品一直在澳大利亚各地巡展，包括首次展出的阿德莱德，以及在珀斯西澳大利亚州议会展出。
"If people would just look at that, how can that be dangerous? The danger is put on by other people who are trying to turn it into something it's not." The artwork has been touring around Australia, including in Adelaide where it was first shown, and Perth where it was shown at the Western Australian state parliament.
梅里德·希尼医生是“珀斯医生医疗援助巴勒斯坦”组织的成员，该组织协助安排了在西澳大利亚州议会和堪培拉联邦议会大厦举办的展览。
Dr Mairead Heaney is part of Perth Doctors Medical Aid for Palestine which helped arrange the exhibition at the WA parliament and the federal Parliament House in Canberra.
她说，这幅作品在堪培拉展出期间，多位工党、绿党和独立议员前来参观，其中包括工党议员托尼·扎皮亚，他还在议会就这幅作品发表了声明。
She said a number of Labor, Greens and independent MPs visited the artwork when it was displayed in Canberra, including Labor MP Tony Zappia, who made a statement to parliament about it.
扎皮亚在发言中说：“这幅横幅令人悲痛地提醒人们，巴勒斯坦人承受着巨大的人员伤亡、苦难和日常侵害，而世界大部分地区却视而不见。”
Zappia said in his speech: "The banner is a sad reminder of the level of Palestinian human losses, suffering, and daily violations they endure, while much of the world looks away."