SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s most populous state has lodged a legal application to stop a Black Lives Matter protest occurring in Sydney, state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Friday.

Thousands of people have pledged to attend a protest organised in Sydney on Saturday in the wake of death of black American George Floyd in U.S. police custody.

The protest had secured permission as it originally planned to have fewer than 500 people present. But Berejiklian said when it became clear that thousands planned to attend, the legal application was made to the state’s Supreme Court.