Julian Assange joins major pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters, including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday, as part of a rally calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.
Assange, who returned to Australia last year, was pictured surrounded by family and marching alongside former Australian foreign minister and New South Wales premier Bob Carr.
France, Britain, and Canada have in recent weeks voiced intentions to diplomatically recognise a Palestinian state as international concern and criticism have grown over the starvation in Gaza.
In a joint statement with more than a dozen other nations on Tuesday, Australia expressed the “willingness or the positive consideration… to recognise the state of Palestine as an essential step towards the two-state solution.”
The pro-Palestinian crowd braved heavy winds and rain to march across the bridge, chanting “ceasefire now” and “free Palestine.”
“The deliberate starvation of 2 million Gazans is a part of a broader plan, repeatedly announced by Israeli leaders, to either kill or expel the entire Palestinian population from Gaza. This is a genocide,” the Palestine Action Group Sydney said.
Mehreen Faruqi, the New South Wales senator for the left-wing Greens party, told the crowd gathered at central Sydney’s Lang Park that the march would “make history.”
She called for the “harshest sanctions on Israel,” as its forces continue “massacring” Gazans.
Dozens of marchers held up banners listing the names of thousands of Palestinian children killed since the genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.
Labor backbench MP Ed Husic attended the march and called for his ruling party, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, to recognise a Palestinian state.
