Tens of thousands of people gathered across Australia in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, with organizers vowing to continue protesting after Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire deal in Gaza that initially appeared to be holding.
In Sydney, the Palestine Action Group said 30,000 people marched from Hyde Park to Belmore Park in the central business district after a planned rally at the Opera House was banned by the New South Wales Court of Appeal last week.
NSW Police estimated 8,000 people attended the Sydney protest, with a spokesperson saying there were “no significant incidents”.
Demonstrations were also held in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth on Sunday to mark two years of killings in Gaza, after Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023, killed around 1,200 people in Israel.
Palestine Action Group organizer Josh Lees told Guardian Australia at Sunday’s rally: “In terms of the movement, we will absolutely continue to protest for a free Palestine… for self-determination in Gaza, for aid to be allowed and for Palestinians to be able to rebuild Gaza.”
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But fellow organizer Amal Naser said that next week the organization would be among groups taking part in a United Against Racism rally in Belmore Park, in response to anti-immigration rallies and the presence of neo-Nazis in Australia.
Separately, thousands of people took part in a Jewish community celebration on Sunday night in Sydney’s eastern suburbs to mark the second anniversary of October 7. Geoffrey Majzner, brother of Galit Carbone, an Australian citizen who was killed during the attacks, was scheduled to speak.
There were prayers for the imminent repatriation of the remaining 20 hostages in Gaza and those killed on 7 October. Israeli Ambassador Amir Maimon paid tribute to the survivors’ determination. The crowd booed when he mentioned Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
On Sunday, many pro-Palestine protesters expressed hope that the ceasefire would lead to lasting peace. Others were skeptical of Trump’s involvement and urged his supporters to continue to pressure the Australian government to sanction Israel and end trade in military goods.
Shamikh Badra, a Palestinian Australian living in Sydney, said he hopes the agreement will allow him to bring his elderly mother, who is still in Gaza without access to medical care, to Australia, and find and bury his brother, sister-in-law and their four children, who have been missing since 2023.
“We support efforts to end genocide, but I am still concerned… Trump’s plan [was] imposed on the Palestinians,” he said. “They didn’t consult the Palestinians at the beginning.”
The Sydney rally heard speakers including four Australians released from Israeli detention following the interception of the Sumud flotilla this month.
Surya McEwen, with his arm in a sling after allegedly being displaced in an Israeli prison, told Guardian Australia that not enough was known about the ceasefire agreement. International aid organizations, including Unrwa and Unicef, were preparing to enter Gaza.
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McEwen said flotilla activists would continue to try to deliver aid by sea “as long as there is a situation where there is a brutal and illegal blockade of Gaza.”
Abubakir Rafiq, who returned to Sydney on Friday, gave an emotional speech describing his detention with 83 other men in Israel’s Ketziot prison.
“I was released,” he said. “But what about those two Palestinians I saw at the same time I was taken to prison… and the 10,000 Palestinian hostages who are being held in prison?”
NSW Greens MP Jenny Leong told the crowd: “We cannot allow a world where Trump determines the future of the Palestinian people to be the kind of world we live in.”
Naser, who submitted the original request to march on the Opera House, maintained that the protesters could have safely gone to the famous port site. NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna told the Court of Appeal last week the plan had “doom written all over it”.
Naser said on Sunday: “Every time the police try to oppose our demonstrations or take us to the Supreme Court, many people wake up… to the need to mobilize and stand up against them.”
– Additional reporting by Australian Associated Press
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