Protestors have called out the government and NSW Premier Chris Minns as the contested pro-Palestine march continues to sweep sites in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Sydney protest, organised by Palestine Action Group, kicked off at around 1pm today, following a Supreme Court decision to allow the event to proceed despite Minns and NSW Police’s attempts to block it amid safety and traffic concerns earlier this week.
Another protest in Melbourne, likewise in response to the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, is taking place along the King Street bridge in the city’s CBD, with protestors in both cities criticising their respective government’s reaction to the planned marches.
For her part, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi — one of multiple speakers at the Sydney march — addressed crowds while criticising Minns’ lack of support for the protest.
“Thank you for defying Chris Minns,” Farqui told protesters, per The Guardian.
“It was never about logistics. It was never about traffic. It was never about communications or anything else. It was always about stopping us and silencing us.
“We’ve got to keep building this momentum because we don’t want rhetoric or words or signatures or gestures.”
Alongside Faruqi, speakers at the Sydney event include former Australian of the Year and former Soccero Craig Foster, as well as Tania Safi, one of the Aussie passengers on board the Gaza-bound Handala aid ship intercepted by Israeli forces last week.
Meanwhile, in Melbourne, activists taking part in the event, organised by the Free Palestine Coalition, also took aim at the government.
Per The Age, former Greens candidate Samantha Ratnam told crowds “the more they minimise us … the more and more they’re being overwhelmed [by the] community telling them they’re on the wrong side of history”.
The Guardian reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former NSW Premier Bob Carr are among the attendees at the Sydney protest, as updates continue to trickle out from both ongoing events in Sydney and Melbourne.
Thousands are expected to turn out for the protests despite the wet weather in Sydney, with Transport NSW warning against non-essential travel and bracing commuters for long delays.
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