Pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through the streets of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide today as the first anniversary of the October 7 attack looms.
Follow our coverage as it happened
Key Events
That’s all for today’s blog coverage
Thank you for joining us today in our coverage of the protests across the country.
To catch up on the events of the day, you can read our wrap below:
Key Event
NSW arrest one man for allegedly displaying swastika
NSW Police have given an update on today’s protests in Sydney, with one man arrested.
About 1.20pm, a 56-year-old man was arrested for allegedly displaying a swastika symbol, and was charged with “knowingly display by public act Nazi symbol without reasonable excuse”.
The man was bailed to appear in court later in the month.
A 28-year-old man was also detained on Elizabeth Street for an alleged breach of the peace, and was taken to a police station and spoken to before being released.
Central Metropolitan Region Commander, Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said overall police were pleased with behaviour from the estimated crowd of 10,000.
“The NSW Police worked closely with our partner agencies and protest organisers to execute a significant and robust police operation across the Sydney CBD, which evidently had a successful outcome,” Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said.
Key Event
Four arrests made during Melbourne protest
Crowds have thinned in Melbourne’s CBD as the pro-Palestinian rally has wrapped up.
Victoria Police said four arrests were made during the protests in Melbourne’s CBD today.
“Around 7,000 people attended the demonstration and there were no major issues of note reported to police, however, four people were arrested for public order related matters,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
“Overall, police were pleased with the behaviour of attendees.
“There were no displays of prohibited symbols at today’s protest.
“As a matter of course, police will review any vision or CCTV from the day. Our top priority was keeping the peace to ensure the event did not impact the safety of the broader community.”
Greens senator shows support for ‘essential’ protest
Greens senator David Shoebridge attended the rally in Hyde Park, and said the government was not acting to address the conflict.
“We’ve seen very little policy change from the Australian government. Still backing in a very one-sided approach to an appalling conflict,” he said.
Mr Shoebridge said he wanted more from the government than “sad tweets” and “statements of regret” and to take “significant action”.
“There’s a very toxic duopoly in the federal parliament of both Labor and the Coalition who seem absolutely to not get the breadth of concern across my beautiful home city of Sydney but I think across the country,” Mr Shoebridge said.
“People are desperately concerned when they see the number of children being killed and injured, the horrific scale of the violence.
“I think this protest is essential. In some ways, this is the way that thousands and thousands of Australians can come together and realise they’re not alone.”
Jewish community share safety concerns at Melbourne rally
Victorian MP David Southwick spoke at an event in Melbourne’s Southbank commemorating victims of the October 7 attacks.
He said the Jewish community had not had “a fair go” from the government.
“The community doesn’t want any special treatment, they just want to be treated the same,” Mr Southwick said.
“The community I represent are heartbroken right now, they feel the government — both federal and state — have let them down.”
Mr Southwick is the Member for Caulfield, an electoral district which is home to Australia’s largest Jewish population.
Cecilia Moskow attended the rally, and said increased tensions meant she no longer felt safe when travelling alone in the city.
“It saddens me that outside our schools we need full time security, outside our synagogues we need security,” she said.
“We’re Australians and we want to be part of Australia.”
SA: More from the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide
Reporting by Olivia Mason
Pro-Palestine demonstrators are continuing their protest outside Parliament House in Adelaide, with around 200 people holding banners and flags as they marched across North Terrace.
Jewish pro-Palestinian demonstrator Raphael Duffy said it was “appalling” that the western governments including Australia continue to support Israel “politically”.
“This kind of barbarity that Israel continues shouldn’t be normalised, we can’t just stay home and pretend that this is the new normal for society now,” Mr Duffy said.
“I’d like to see Australia break that political support.
“We’re going to continue showing up until Palestine is free.”
Protesters share concerns about family in Lebanon
Rowena Kassir joined the protest today at Sydney’s Hyde Park, and has family in South Lebanon.
She said many of her family members had been forced to evacuate further north in the country as a result of military strikes by Israel.
“Over 1.5 million Lebanese are now displaced,” Ms Kassir said.
“This morning we just heard that the main road to Beirut airport is now gone, the main road between Syria and Lebanon is gone, where are they meant to go?”
She said the crowds attending the rally were being ignored.
“Our voices are not being heard, especially by the Australian government and until something is done, this won’t end,” Ms Kassir said.
“There’s no support, not from our government, not from our local MPs, nothing.”
Pro-Israel demonstrators in Adelaide
Reporting by Olivia Mason
Several Israel supporters gathered at Rundle Mall in Adelaide CBD with flags, pleading for the return of hostages.
Pro-Israel demonstrator Ronald Wisznia said supporters, who are majority Christians that support the Jewish community, want to see the war end.
“We are here to demonstrate unity against terror. Hamas is a terror organisation who invaded Israel and killed innocent civilians,” Mr Wisznia said.
Victoria Police manage tensions in Melbourne CBD
Tensions have flared on Melbourne’s Swanston Street, with a heavy police presence still in force.
A member of Melbourne’s Jewish community was moved on from the pro-Palestinian protest by police officers, who said he was “purposely agitating” protesters.
The man said he had just come from the memorial event in Southbank.
“I’m a Jewish-Australian, we came to our own peaceful demonstration to ask for hostages to be released and for peace in the world,” he said.
“I said a few words, I probably shouldn’t have said anything, I got upset.”
The man, who did not give his name, said he yelled “shame” at the gathered crowd before being told to move on by police.
“I want to be proud to be able to walk in Melbourne without feeling scared,” he said.
“The police told me to move on in case I was injured or hit, I understand their concern but should I feel sad to walk around my own country, my own city?”
Sydney rally organiser pushes for Australia to cut ties with Israel
Amal Naser is one of the organisers of today’s rally, and said the goal was to push the government to act.
“We’re here to demand that our government finally cut ties with the state of Israel, because enough is enough,” she said.
She said the police presence was much heavier at today’s rally than at any other previous event.
“It’s very clear that the state doesn’t want this many people out dissenting against the genocide, dissenting towards their policies towards the state of Israel,” Ms Naser said.
“They’re using heavy-handed measures to scare people, but these people, they’re not scared, they’re coming out.”
More from the protest in Hyde Park
Abdul was in attendance at the Sydney rally, and said Australia needed to do more to help the situation in the Middle East.
“Very sad with what’s happening overseas, innocent people, it’s not like a military fighting a military,” he said.
“They have no food, they have no water, they’re eating grass, so we’re here to show support.”
Abdul strongly criticised NSW Premier Chris Minns for his behaviour in the lead up to the protests.
“He needs to … really stand up, because these are innocent people that are dying,” he said.
“One minute he’s on this side, one minute he’s on that side.”
Woman spoken to at Perth demonstration
Police briefly spoke to a woman at a protest in Perth yesterday.
The woman was holding a placard featuring the Palestinian flag and a portrait of deceased Hezbollah leader Hasran Nasrallah.
Police briefly spoke to her before the sign was taken down.
The woman then displayed the placard again, this time without the image of Nasrallah.
No arrests were made.
Demonstration underway in Adelaide
More than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators have gathered outside South Australian Parliament House.
The protest is taking place in the presence of police.
Meanwhile, a handful of demonstrators supporting Israel have set up photos at Rundle Mall in Adelaide’s CBD of people they say are war hostages.
Protest organiser labels attempts to stop rally ‘despicable’
Josh Lees from Palestine Action Group Sydney said he expected tens of thousands of attendees to show up to Sunday’s protest to take a stand against the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza.
Israel has strenuously denied allegations of genocide.
Mr Lees said the demonstrations being held today were more crucial than ever.
“This war on Lebanon that Israel is beginning, now they’re threatening a regional war with Iran potentially too, so there’s more reason than ever we need to get out and protest,” he said.
It comes after attempts this week by NSW Police to block the protests through the Supreme Court.
Mr Lees was critical of the government, saying the authorities were interfering with the public’s democratic right to protest.
“We’ve also seen despicable efforts from the authorities here today to try and stop us protesting, which I think is going to make even more people come out today in defiance of that,” Mr Lees said.
“We don’t need to prove anything to them, we’ve proved ourselves for 51 weeks now.”
Key Event
At least one person arrested at Sydney protest
At least one person has been arrested and others are being spoken to by police for holding signs and placards that could be deemed illegal.
NSW Police told the ABC the man was arrested by police for carrying an Israeli flag with a swastika in the middle of it instead of the Star of David.
He is expected to be charged later today.
One man, holding a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) card, not a proscribed terrorist group in Australia but it is in the US, was ordered to remove his sign by police.
Elsewhere in the park, signs bearing the photo and details of Israelis abducted during the October 7 attacks were posted.
The signs were later removed from the park by men wearing high-vis.
Protesters gather at Flinders Street
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have now gathered at Flinders Street Station in Melbourne’s CBD.
They marched down Swanston Street from the State Library.
More speakers are now addressing the crowd from the steps of the station.
WATCH: Protests in Sydney’s Hyde Park
The ABC’s Victoria Pengilley is at Hyde Park in Sydney, and spoke to attendees carrying green and gold flags at the rally.
They told the ABC that they were representing the colours of Australia with the flag.
Key Event
Memorial held by Melbourne’s Jewish community
Across the CBD in Melbourne’s Southbank, hundreds from Melbourne’s Jewish community gathered as part of a memorial to mark the anniversary of the October 7 attacks.
Some held pictures of loved ones in the crowd, while others wrote names of people captured in the October 7 attack on a large dog tag.
The rally was also attended by some members of the Iranian community, who waved pre-Revolution Iranian flags alongside Israeli flags.
As the event concluded, those in attendance were asked by organisers to put away their Israeli flags as they left, and directed on the safest route out of the area.
Palestinian speaker addresses crowd in Melbourne
Educator and political analyst Noura Mansour from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network spoke to the crowd which gathered in front of the State Library of Victoria.
She said it had been “a difficult 12 months” for Palestinian communities.
“We now watch the Israeli violence spill over to the entire region as it targets our brothers and sisters and families in Lebanon,” she said.
“We’ve also listened to our government here shamelessly stand and explain and pontificate.
“We are here today, we continue to grow because we have three important things on our side: justice, truth and hope.”
More from the Sydney protest
Thousands gathered in Sydney’s Hyde Park to protest, bringing a range of signs, placards and flags with them.
NSW police officers were seen checking green and yellow flags in the crowd, with signs around the park warning against the display of illegal symbols such as the Hezbollah flag.
