By Andrew Taylor
Thousands of people gathered at Sydney Town Hall on Saturday for a pro-Palestinian rally amid a heavy police presence.
More than 830 police were deployed across the city after NSW Premier Chris Minns pleaded for calm ahead of the rally, saying a repeat of antisemitic protests in front of the Opera House this week would be ruinous for Sydney and its multicultural, multi-faith community.
Thousands of people attended a pro-Palestinian rally in the Sydney CBD on Saturday. Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Speakers led the crowd in a series of chants including “Long Live the Intifada” and “Resistance is justified when Palestine is occupied”.
An estimated 12,000 to 15,000 people attended the event, carrying Palestinian flags and placards with messages such as “Justice for Palestine”, “End the Gaza Blockade” and “It’s not war, it’s genocide” .
Demonstrators listened to speakers detail the destruction and loss of life in Gaza following the attack on Israel earlier this month by militant group Hamas.
Speakers expressed strong condemnation of Israel, but warned the crowd not to burn flags, set off flares or cover their faces.
Amid chants of “Shame, Shame Albanese” and “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry”, demonstrators were also told that anti-Semitic and racist sentiments were not welcome at the rally.
Another speaker said: “As a Palestinian Australian from Gaza, seeing what’s happening to families back home, listening to my nieces and nephews over the phone between tears trying to explain horrors and tragedies taking place in our neighbourhood.”
Following the speeches, demonstrators chanting slogans and waving their flags and placards marched along city streets to Belmore Park.
While the pro-Palestinian rally was peaceful, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin expressed concern about some of the messages chanted by demonstrators.
“Their calls for the ‘liberation’ of Palestine ‘from the river to the sea’ is an unambiguous call for Israel’s destruction and the support for a new intifada is a call for the murder of more civilians,” he said.
“The public has been shown what this movement is really about. Their actions are inciting more hatred in Australia and further fracturing our fragile social cohesion.”
The rally organisers rejected Ryvchin’s allegations.
“The phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ is a call for the liberation of Palestine, with reference to the geographical boundaries of Palestine,” said organiser Fahad Ali. “To suggest otherwise in an extreme example of bad faith.”
He said anyone making antisemitic comments was unwelcome at rallies. “The focus should remain squarely on the suffering that is taking place in Gaza right now,” Ali said.
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2023-10-21 09:59:21Z
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