Tens of Thousands Join Pro-Palestinian March in Sydney

Tens of thousands of people took part in a major pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney on Sunday, as part of nationwide demonstrations across Australia calling for justice and peace in Gaza.

According to the group Palestine Action Australia, around 30,000 people gathered in central Sydney while 27 similar events were held nationwide. Police did not release an official estimate of attendance.

The protest came as a fragile ceasefire in Gaza appeared to hold, following the initial withdrawal of Israeli forces under a US-brokered agreement aimed at ending the two-year war. The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and left much of the Gaza Strip in ruins.

Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags, wore traditional keffiyehs, and marched through closed city streets, chanting for an end to Israeli occupation. Police confirmed that the event passed peacefully with no arrests reported.

One of the organizers, Amal Nasser, said the ceasefire does not change the reality of Israel’s ongoing military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, describing it as a system of apartheid.

The march took place in Sydney’s central business district after a court blocked an earlier plan to hold it near the Sydney Opera House.

Protester Abby Jordan expressed doubts that the ceasefire would hold, saying Israel has repeatedly violated past agreements. She urged the Australian government to impose sanctions on Israel over its actions in the Palestinian territories.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, which represents more than 200 Jewish organizations, condemned the protest’s organizers, saying their actions undermined efforts to maintain the ceasefire.