Tens of thousands of Australians marched in solidarity with Palestine over the weekend in cities and towns across the country.Rallies took place in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and other smaller centres to protest Israel’s violence in Gaza and what they say is the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people.
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An estimated 15,000 marched in Sydney’s CBD, carrying Palestinian, Lebanese, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags and chanting “free, free Palestine”.Photographer Sage Riley captured the scenes.
A police officer monitors the crowd marching through Sydney's city streets on Saturday.
As of Tuesday, more than 5000 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli attacks, about 40 per cent of them children.Since Hamas’s first attack in southern Israel two weeks ago, at least 1,400 Israelis, many of them civilians, have also been killed by the militant group.
More than one million people have been displaced from Gaza, the coastal enclave home to 2.3 million Palestinians, amid Israel’s bombardment. Israel has also cut water, food, electricity and supplies to Gaza.
Police watch on with hands folded.
A woman in a hijab stands in the crowd, hands folded.
Days before the Sydney rally, it was reported the government was considering banning the gathering and therefore giving NSW Police powers to shut the event down.Premier Chris Minns allowed it go ahead and said there was a right to protest in the state, but that “we … and the police will have absolutely no tolerance for hate speech on NSW streets”.
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This came after a handful of anti-Semitics infiltrated an earlier pro-Palestine rally at the Sydney Opera House and were reported chanting racist slurs.No arrests were made at the event on Saturday.
Sage Riley is a photographer based in Sydney. Follow Sage on Instagram.Read more from VICE Australia and subscribe to our weekly newsletter, This Week Online.