AhlulBayt News Agency: Protesters have staged mass rallies in cities across Australia, demanding an end to the Israeli regime's genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Mass rallies took place on Sunday in multiple cities nationwide, including large turnouts in state capitals Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne.
Many of the protesters carried placards, while others waved Palestinian flags, amid chants of “Free, free Palestine.”
The Palestine Action Group said some 350,000 people attended the rallies, including about 50,000 in Brisbane. Police estimated that turnout was lower.
Protest organizer Josh Lees said Australians were out in force to “demand an end to this genocide in Gaza and to demand that our government sanction Israel.”
The rallies took place after diplomatic relations between Canberra and Tel Aviv turned sour.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced earlier this month that the country would officially recognize the State of Palestine.
At a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on August 11, Albanese declared the government would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“Australia will recognize the state of Palestine. Australia will recognize the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own,” he said.
The decision aligns with recognition pledges from nations such as France, Canada, and the United Kingdom in recent weeks.
Increased support for the Palestinian state coincides with widespread condemnation of the Israeli regime's 22.5-month-long onslaught in Gaza, its intention to occupy the entire region, and the deliberate starvation of its 2.3 million residents.
Since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces have killed a shocking 62,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
Nearly three times more have sustained wounds that require medical attention, while Tel Aviv cut food, water, power, and medicine to the region.
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