(Bloomberg) – Tens of thousands of people took part in a rare march through the iconic port bridge in Sydney to support Gaza and urged the Australian government to increase the pressure on Israel to relieve the humanitarian crisis.
The march began at 13:00 local time, when the demonstrators exceeded 1.1 kilometers (0.7 miles) Most and back, thus raising concerns between crushing authorities. While the police estimated the crowd of 90,000, the organizers said the number could have been more than three times higher.
“We sent a huge news to the world,” said the Palestinian action group in the post on Instagram. “People talked today and they said they stop stroking the kids to death! Stop people desperately looking for food!”
It is a rarity that the famous monument – the main arterial road connecting the central business district in Sydney with the north of the city – is closed and the operation is diverted to the assembly. In 2023 he was blocked for seven hours, estimated to be able to support equality for the LGBTIQ community. In 2000, about 250,000 people marched across the bridge to support indigenous reconciliation.
Despite the heavy rainfall, which caused floods elsewhere in the state, the proper protesting dressed in wet weather and carried Palestinian flags, banners and signs when they swarmed the bridge. Among the participants were the founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange, former Foreign Minister Bob Carr, former captain Craig Craig Foster and Senator Greens Mehreen Faruqi.
The UN World Food Program warned for weeks that the Gaza populations with more than 2 million people face the crisis level of food uncertainty, with many groups of assists showing extensive starvation. Israel blocked all help in entering the enclave for 11 weeks from 2 to 21 March.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that there is no starvation or politics that would prepare people for food in Gaza. He accused Hamas of theft and blocking the distribution of assistance and also for distributing it.
Photographs of greased children in Gaza, which have been circulating in recent weeks, have forced some world leaders to increase the pressure on Israel to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is growing pressure to follow in the recent footsteps of France, Great Britain and Canada, whose leaders announce or signal plans to recognize the Palestinian state in September.
Albanese told ABC on July 27 that the decision would be made in “appropriate time” and not only “as a gesture”, but rather as a way forward “if circumstances were met” – one of which would be to remove Hamas in power.
Police of the new South Wales claimed a court order for the Sunday protest of “unlawful and unauthorized” to rule for public security. They said there was not enough time. On Saturday the application was rejected by the judge of the Supreme Court NSW.
Prime Minister NSW Chris Minns said last week that he did not support the protest of “this scale and nature” on the bridge. “We cannot allow Sydney to come down in chaos,” he said, although some of his colleagues promised to participate.
The protesters also marched in Melbourne on King Street Bridge on Sunday, one of the main roads of the city that intersects the Yarra River to connect CBD with its southern suburbs.
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(Tagstotranslate) Sydney Harbor Bridge (T) Humbar Kris Gaza
