Gaza: Thousands In Australia Turn Out For Pro-Palestinian Rallies

Thousands of Australians joined pro-Palestinian rallies on Sunday, as Israel prepared to launch a ground invasion of Gaza after last weekend’s Hamas attacks.

Protesters waved Palestine flags and chanted “Free, free Palestine” as hundreds of police patrolled the area around one of the largest rallies in Sydney, Capital of Australia’s most populous State of New South Wales.

A police helicopter circled low over the event in the city’s Hyde Park.

About 5,000 people attended, said the organisers, the Palestine Action Group.

The rally was “peaceful so far”, said a group Spokesperson, Amal Naser, adding that police had not deployed special powers to stop.

Ayah, a Palestinian living in Sydney, said she was at the rally to “be peaceful, to support my country, nothing to do with burning flags”.

Another protester, Mustafa, whose father left Gaza in 1976, attended with his three children.

“We are not against Jewish people,” he said. “They have been in Palestine for a long time, side by side with the Muslims and the Christians, we are all Palestinians. We are against the Zionists.”

Rally organisers said they planned to march through central Sydney next weekend.

Thousands also protested at pro-Palestine rallies in Adelaide, the Capital of South Australia, and in the Victorian
state Capital of Melbourne, said the Guardian Australia news site.

REUTERS