Sydney’s pro-Palestine protest on the Harbour Bridge was marred by a small minority chanting antisemitic slogans and carrying inflammatory posters, as more than 90,000 people braved the rain to take part.
The massive demonstration has sparked warnings that it could set a precedent for more large-scale marches to be held on the iconic bridge.
Giant Palestinian flags were unfurled across the city as protesters banged pots and pans to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where severe food shortages and malnutrition have been reported as a result of the ongoing conflict and blockades.
Among the crowd, a large portrait of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, shown holding a rifle, was prominently displayed. Khamenei, who has ruled Iran for more than three decades, is widely regarded as a despot who has brutally repressed women’s rights and ordered the mass killings of pro-democracy activists.
Other protesters held signs depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Hitler-style moustache and the word ‘terrorist’ beneath.
Queers for Palestine also joined the protest, holding a sign that read, ‘Penny Wong kills lesbians in Gaza’.
Other demonstrators used the rally to take aim at as well. One carried a sign saying, ‘Abolish Israel, abolish – Land back.’
Another protester also tried to turn the event into a protest against colonialism.
‘Don’t go on the Sydney Harbour with n nationalistic fervour. Nationalistic pride is genocidal. Go on the Sydney Harbour because it’s a symbol of colonialism that needs to be torn down.
‘Too many are in love with their Australinanness, but we should be challenging the national culture, not reinforcing or appealing it,’ they said.
Another protester was seen wearing a jumper emblazoned with the slogan ‘Death to the IDF’, directly targeting Israel’s military, while another carried a sign declaring ‘Zionists are Neo-Nazis’.
Another protester showed his support for Dr Abbasi, an Iranian scientist who openly supported Iran’s nuclear program and was killed in Israeli strikes in June.
Many black and white Islamic flags – often used by Islamist groups to symbolise jihad and Islamic unity – were also seen on the bridge.
Chants of ‘Long live Intifada’ – a phrase commonly associated with violent uprisings against Israel – as well as ‘Death to Netanyahu’ also echoed across the bridge.
‘Whether they realise it or not, they’re endorsing the same terror that targets Jews, Israel, and the West,’ one critic said.
NSW Police praised the general behaviour of protesters but were forced to turn the crowd around about an hour into the march because of the ‘risk of injury, due to the huge number of people taking part’.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Adam Johnson described the situation as ‘perilous’ and said he feared someone could be killed.
‘That was a very intense situation. We had more people than I’d ever seen in a small confined space,’ he said.
Protester Michael Morrell, who carried a sign reading ‘Never again really?’, told The n he believed the situation in Gaza amounted to genocide.
‘They said it would never happen again, well guess what, the Zionist state is perpetrating exactly the same thing the Nazis were doing to the Jews in the Second World War,’ he said.
Earlier in the week, NSW Police admitted they could not ensure a safe environment for the rally and sought a prohibition order from the courts.
But on Saturday, Supreme Court Justice Belinda Rigg rejected the request, ruling that the inconvenience to residents and commuters did not outweigh the right to peaceful assembly.
‘It is in the nature of peaceful protests to cause disruption to others,’ she said.
Legal expert Patrick Schmidt warned the decision could pave the way for more protests on the bridge.
‘The police or government can’t stop a lawful peaceful protest, the issue is the scale of it,’ Mr Schmidt told the Daily Telegraph.
‘The major issue is the logistics of it all – as opposed to the legality.
‘It’s a public safety issue – it’s not so much about the convenience – it’s getting enough boots on the ground.
‘The significance of using the Harbour Bridge is it will get picked up by world media.
‘If it happened every weekend how would you get the public attention to it. It would lose a lot of vigour.’
High-profile participants included Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, former Socceroos captain Craig Foster, former Labor foreign affairs minister Bob Carr and federal Labor MP Ed Husic.
‘Just as some underestimated the amount of people that would turn up on the bridge, I think n politics has underestimated how strongly ns feel about this issue,’ Husic, a former cabinet minister, told ABC Radio on Monday.
‘This is a moment – a wake-up call – for n politics. When I looked in that crowd, you had people that you would expect… protesting, but there was a lot of middle there and that’s something that can’t be ignored.’
The protest took place against the backdrop of Israel’s military campaign, which began after militant group Hamas – deemed a terrorist organisation by – attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 251 hostages.
The subsequent bombardment and blockade of Gaza have killed more than 60,000 people, according to Gaza health ministry sources.
The United Nations projects that Gaza’s population of 2.1million people will face extremely high levels of acute food insecurity, with one million already at emergency levels.
On Monday, Senator Penny Wong announced would provide an additional $20million in aid to deliver food, medical supplies for field hospitals and other lifesaving support to women and children in Gaza, following the establishment of new humanitarian corridors.
The Albanese Government has now committed more than $130million in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and Lebanon since October 2023.
Wong said had consistently joined international calls for Israel to allow the full and immediate resumption of aid to Gaza, in line with the binding orders of the International Court of Justice.
‘The suffering and starvation of civilians in Gaza must end,’ she said.
‘ will continue to work with the international community to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and a two-state solution – the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.’