Over 100,000 people marched across Sydney's Harbour Bridge on Sunday in a massive protest against Israel's military campaign in Gaza, organisers said. The demonstration, which took over the city's central business district despite rain, drew a diverse crowd beyond the usual activist base, including grandmothers and parents with prams.
Journalist Sarah Malik, who attended, described the event as a 'collective wave of energy' against government inaction. 'Why aren't they listening? How is this horror continuing unabated with impunity?' she wrote, criticising Australia's refusal to impose sanctions or an arms embargo on Israel.
The protest comes amid ongoing violence in Gaza, where Palestinian officials report over 60,000 deaths, half of them women and children. Malik noted the killing of journalists, with at least 225 Palestinian reporters killed, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
Participants voiced opposition to New South Wales Premier Chris Minns' recent protest laws, which they say have led to increased police surveillance and incidents like the alleged assault of former Greens candidate Hannah Thomas. 'We do not consent to a vast population being killed by starvation,' read signs held by parents with children.
Malik said the march felt like a turning point, bridging the city's geographic and economic divides. 'There was just a collective us,' she wrote, describing the peaceful crowd moving 'like a colourful cloud of umbrellas.' She concluded that governments and media can no longer ignore the growing dissent.
