Huge pro-Palestine crowd marches in Melbourne as part of national rally

A march of pro-Palestine activists stopped traffic in Melbourne’s city centre on Sunday, waving flags and banging pots in a rally against continued Israeli airstrikes and rising starvation in Gaza.

A crowd of thousands, including young families, teachers, nurses and people with their dogs, congregated in the sunshine outside the State Library as part of a national day of action.

The demonstration was the 97th consecutive pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne; organiser Mai Saif told those assembled that Australian politicians had failed the people of Gaza.

Saif, whose father is Palestinian, said support for the plight of the people of Gaza was growing, with protests occurring across 40 cities nationally.

“Let our message be clear: we believe in equality, we believe in human rights, in humanity, in love, in hope, in resistance,” she told the crowd, which erupted into cheers.

“This is our land, our home, our ancestors, our heritage … we will never leave.”

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe drew comparisons between the Palestinian and First Nations struggle, while renowned Indigenous activist Dr Gary Foley told the crowd he had just recovered from heart surgery, but wanted to be at the rally because “they will never kill the resistance”.

“My heart remains with the people of Palestine,” he said.

Some healthcare workers were dressed in their scrubs, holding signs that read: “Healthcare workers of Gaza, you are not alone.”

Others held signs of starving children or photographs of Palestinian people who had been killed.

One protester held a poster with the words: “How many times can a soul break and still bloom again? I’ve shattered a million times, yet I rise.”

The crowd marching stretched from the steps of parliament, past Flinders Street Station to as far as Melbourne Town Hall.

The Riff Raff Radical marching band played trumpets and another group strummed guitars belting out John Farnham’s You’re The Voice.

Similar rallies also took place on Sunday in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin, as well as in regional cities, including Warrnambool and Geelong.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said officers had maintained a “highly visible presence” throughout the Melbourne protest, which they estimated was attended by about 10,000 people. Rally organisers had estimated crowd numbers were more than 100,000.

“Our top priority was keeping the peace and ensuring the safety of those attending and the broader community,” the police spokesperson said.

“Officers are currently investigating reports of two smoke emitters being spotted in the crowd. There are no arrests at this stage.”

In NSW, a confidential police briefing paper, obtained by this masthead, revealed the force had spent $11.3 million responding to protests, rallies and crimes linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Sydney.

The anti-hate taskforce, Operation Shelter, had recorded 1846 pro-Palestine and pro-Israel events and protests from October 8, 2023, to April 14, 2025. Those numbers did not include a march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge earlier this month.

The City of Melbourne voted last week to advocate to the state and federal governments to limit any disturbance caused by the weekly pro-Palestine rallies in Melbourne, but that did not deter Greens councillor Dr Olivia Ball from joining the march walking alongside former councillor Jamal Hakim.

Ball said the council’s position was outrageous and the right to protest should be protected.

“It’s a very positive, very peaceful, very heartfelt movement that is expressing their views on the streets of Melbourne, and that’s our human right,” she said.

“It’s anathema to the right to protest for any government to suggest they can dictate when and where people may protest.”

Australian surgeon Bushra Othman was overcome by emotion as she addressed the crowd recalling her months spent at hospitals in Gaza this year.

She spoke of hearing screams as bombs fell, patients lying on the floors of emergency departments with mangled limbs and children being retrieved from rubble.

Othman said she was haunted by thoughts of people dying as they waited to be taken into operating theatres. Others were gravely ill and unable to receive basic healthcare, she said.

Since returning to Australia, she said she could not stop thinking of her medical colleagues and the people of Gaza.

“They are on my mind 24/7,” she said.

Janine O’Keeffe, from the Scientist Rebellion group, said she attended the Melbourne protest because what was unfolding in Gaza was “disgusting”.

“We people who care about human rights must stand together for this,” she said, citing rising numbers of children, healthcare workers, journalists and Palestinian civilians killed.

Another protester, Rhoma Rose, drove more than two hours from her home in north-east Victoria to attend the weekly rallies.

“What is happening in Gaza is cruel and barbaric and violent,” she said.

“Today is absolutely so massive. It’s far more people than I’ve seen attend by a very long shot.”

In Geelong, protesters gathered at Corio Rowing Club for a march “from the river to the sea”, starting at the Barwon River and ending at Corio Bay.

The national protests also included a march in Brisbane’s CBD after a court order found that a proposal for demonstrators to cross the Story Bridge was unsafe.

The court ruling failed to deter crowds, which stretched back several blocks.

The protests come days after the world’s peak hunger monitor warned that almost a quarter of the Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing famine, and the number of those suffering is likely to surpass 600,000 within weeks.

The formal warning on Friday from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, which is backed by the United Nations and major aid groups, came as Australia steps up criticism of the Israeli government in a rebuke over its plans for a controversial settlement in the West Bank.

The organisation said 514,000 people – nearly a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza – were experiencing famine. It predicted the figure would rise to 641,000 by the end of September.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the famine was a “man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself”.

The Israeli government has denied claims of genocide and starvation in Gaza, claiming the war is an act of self-defence.

The famine warning came the day after Australia joined a global statement accusing Israel of violating international law with a major plan to divide Palestinian territories east of Jerusalem, amid Israeli claims it will “erase” the prospect of a Palestinian state.

Earlier this month, at least 90,000 pro-Palestine protesters walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, following a Supreme Court ruling to allow the rally to take place on the Australian landmark.

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