Pro-Palestine crowds have swelled to thousands across Melbourne’s CBD as rallies kicked off around Australia on the eve of the first anniversary of a terrorist attack in Israel.
Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni told the crowd gathered outside the State Library that Israel should be condemned for its retaliation, which has reverberated across Gaza and the Middle East.
“Will anyone speak of the dead children, dead women and dead men” in Gaza, Mr Mashni said as protesters prepared to march from the library to Flinders St Station.
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“It’s shameful that we’re being asked to be respectful when we’ve had 365 October 7s in this period.”
Thousands packed the library forecourt, spilling out onto tram tracks and nearby streets as drums sounded off in the background and rain drizzled.
The crowd chanted, clapped and waved flags as they listened to speeches from Palestinian community leaders and supporters.
Protesters were packed tight and parents carefully navigated prams around people waving flags and holding placards.
The crowd then marched down Swanston St towards Flinders Street Station, chanting phrases including “free Palestine” and “all Zionists are terrorists”.
Victoria Police had a visible presence and quickly led a man away when a scuffle broke out.
In Sydney, demonstrators were warned not to display symbols linked to designated terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.
Those heading to Sydney’s Hyde Park were also warned not to “play out” the conflict in the Midddle East by using racial slurs or presenting “threats to public safety”.
A man holding a green-and-yellow flag was quizzed by police. It appeared to show a masked man holding a weapon, echoing the design of the Hezbollah flag.
Some other attendees were carrying flags with green and yellow, which are the colours of the official Hezbollah ensign.
Ahead of the Sydney rally in the CBD, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said if there was a need for officers to respond it would be “proportionate”.
“We take the position that it is an authorised protest for a peaceful protest, and that’s what we expect,” she said.
NSW Counter-Terrorism and Police Minister Yasmin Catley said there would be zero tolerance for misbehaviour.
“We do not want the war in the Middle East played out on our streets in Sydney,” she said.
“That anger has no place here.”
Some political leaders have said it was “regrettable” the demonstrations are taking place.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said it was “deeply inappropriate” to be holding protests the day before the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks by the militant Islamic group Hamas in southern Israel.
“There is a right to peacefully protest … but with that right comes a responsibility to do so respectfully and understand what grief and trauma is being experienced by others in our community,” she said.
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the protests were “deeply regrettable”.
“The anniversary of October 7 needs to be about October 7 and what happened on that day was the loss of more than 1000 innocent lives,” he told ABC’s Insiders program.
Rallies were also being held in Perth and Adelaide where hundreds came out in support of Gaza.
More than 1200 people were killed during the October 7 attack and 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas, according to the Israeli government.
In response, Israel unleashed a bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza, killing almost 42,000 people, displacing 1.9 million and leaving another 500,000 with catastrophic levels of food insecurity, local health ministry sources report.
