Thousands flood cities demanding action on Palestine
Samantha Lock, Callum Godde and Abe Maddison |
Raucous, chanting crowds of thousands of people have marched through dozens of Australian cities and towns, demanding action to save dying and starving Palestinians.
Marchers, backed by more than 250 community organisations, unions and prominent public figures, turned up at rallies in more than 40 cities on Sunday to demand sanctions and an end to Australia’s arms trade with Israel.
Police estimates of crowds were far more conservative than numbers released by organisers, who said there were more than 300,000 marchers across the nation.
At the Sydney event, which attracted 100,000 protesters according to organisers, Grace Tame asked the crowd: “Who is ready to resist?”
“There is another force that power responds to … it is public pressure. If we can get 300,000 to block the bridge we can get three million,” the 2021 Australian of the Year said.
Advocate and journalist Antoinette Lattouf said the western media “continues to treat Palestinian lives as expendable and Palestinian journalists as disposable”.
“It will be remembered not as a witness, but as an accomplice,” she told the crowd.
Palestine Action Group’s Sydney spokesman Josh Lees told AAP the march on Sydney Harbour Bridge earlier in August “has generated so much momentum around the country”.
“The dam has burst in terms of support for Palestine and opposition to this genocide,” he said.
“No more bullshit. No more empty words. No more empty gestures.”
In Melbourne, protesters congregated outside Victoria’s State Library, chanting “sanction Israel now”, then marched to Flinders Street Station.
Organisers scoffed at police estimates of 10,000-plus people, noting that when the front of the rally had turned the corner onto Flinders Street, the back of the march hadn’t yet left the state library.
“This makes it significantly larger than marches the press has previously called at 60,000 – it’s more like 100,000 people,” organiser Jasmine Duff told AAP.
Organiser Nour Salman said Australia’s plans to recognise Palestinian statehood, in step with like-minded allies at the next United Nations meeting in September, must be accompanied by tougher sanctions on Israel.
“Enough is enough. There is no ifs, buts or maybes,” the Palestinian activist said.
The action comes days after the United Nations confirmed famine in parts of the Gaza Strip for the first time, as Israel prepares for a military takeover of the entire city.
More than 60,000 Palestinians have died including 18,000 children since October 7, 2023, when Hamas killed 1200 people and took more than 200 hostages at an Israeli music festival, according to the United Nations.
The push for change comes after a magistrate vetoed plans by organisers to march across Brisbane’s Story Bridge, a move welcomed by Queensland Police.
A group of protesters estimated by police to total 10,000 – organisers estimated 50,000 – marched from Queens Gardens across Victoria Bridge to Musgrave Park.
Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi was critical of the late forced protest route change in Brisbane, declaring state and federal governments should be ashamed of themselves.
“The lengths the Queensland government is going through to stop people marching on the Story Bridge, frankly these scenes belong in a dystopian world,” she told the Melbourne crowd.
Police said the rally was peaceful but one person was arrested for breaching the peace.
In Adelaide, about 5000 people chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” gathered in Victoria Square, before marching to Parliament House, where they were addressed by independent senator Fatima Payman.
Elsewhere, organisers’ crowd estimates included 20,000 in Perth, 4000 in Hobart, 1500 in Canberra, and many thousands more in regional cities and towns across the nation.
It was the 97th consecutive weekend of rallies for Gaza in Melbourne.
AAP
