Thousands of pro-Palestine protesters have gathered in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, pledging the rallies will not stop until “freedom and justice prevails”.
For the eighth week in a row, supporters for a free Palestine marched through the Sydney central business district, Melbourne CBD and in Logan, south of Brisbane.
“This is not about Judaism,” campaigner Assala Sayara told a crowd holding Palestinian flags and placards in Sydney’s Hyde Park on Sunday.
“This is not about the Jewish people and this is not about Hamas.
“This is about 75 years of occupation. This is 75 years of pain and mourning.”
Sayara said the protesters would not back down.
“Our commitment to the Palestinian cause is not a one-day or seven-day or seven-week commitment, this is a long-term commitment,” she said.
“Even after we die, our children and our grandchildren will be committed to this movement.
“We will return to every single occupied territory in Palestine. We will continue to resist.”
Palestinian-Australian author and business coach Reem Borrows said the protests would continue “until freedom and justice prevails … until the brutal occupation ends”.
“We have been facing displacement and injustices that the world has denied for decades upon decades,” she said in Sydney.
“We have 5.9 million Palestinian refugees living in incredible poverty, living with no papers, no legal protection and against international law with no right of return.”
Similar themes were heard in Melbourne, where protesters demanded “end the occupation, lift the siege and stop the genocide” as they marched toward the Victorian parliament, The Guardian reported.
Jewish lawyer Sarah Schwartz said she was horrified to watch videos of Palestinian children in Gaza running from bombs as parents searched through the rubble for their dead children.
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about the Israeli victims of October 7 and for the Israeli hostages,” she said in Melbourne.
“If you find the events of October 7 abhorrent, as we all should, then you must see the ongoing injustices against Palestinians is also abhorrent.
“Humans everywhere have an instinct for freedom and if our safety depends on stifling another people’s cry for freedom, it is not real safety.”
Calls for a ceasefire and chants of “free Palestine” rang out at an event in Logan Gardens in Brisbane with organisers standing in front of a banner saying “all I want for Christmas is a ceasefire”.
Children’s shoes were hung from a white Christmas tree to symbolize those who have died in the conflict.
No arrests and no incidents were reported during Sunday’s rallies.
MNA
