Protest in front of Australia’s public broadcaster ABC highlights deaths of journalists in Gaza

ISTANBUL

Protesters gathered in the Australian city of Brisbane to highlight the deaths of journalists in Gaza, with around 400 people attending a rally outside the offices of public broadcaster ABC in the South Bank neighborhood on Sunday.

Many participants of the protest that began at around 2 pm (0400 GMT) wore "press" vests displaying the names of deceased journalists, and one rally attendee presented ABC staff with a list of media workers killed in the Israeli war on the enclave.

The protesters urged media outlets to increase reporting on the war as the world approaches the second anniversary of the conflict, which began on Oct. 7, 2023.

The event, "ABC Stop Silencing Palestine - Rally & March," was organized by Justice for Palestine Magan-djin, a group dedicated to building Palestinian solidarity in Brisbane.

"ABC you can’t hide, you are covering up genocide!" the organizers wrote in the about section of the protest's event page on Facebook.

"Join us ... Demand the ABC stop providing lip service for genocide!

"Israel refuses to allow journalists entry into Gaza and intentionally targets Palestinian journalists. More than 270 Palestinian journalists have been murdered by Israel in targeted attacks since October 2023. This is more than four times the number of journalists killed in the entirety of WWII."

The organizers said that with the "unfair dismissal" of staffer Antoinette Lattouf, the ABC has "unveiled a draconian social media policy for its employees which may impinge on workers’ civil liberties."

Lattouf won her case against ABC in June, with a court ruling that she was unfairly sacked in December 2023 over a social media post about the war in Gaza.

"This is our public broadcaster, with a $1 billion annual budget, which rather than examine its own complicity in promoting Israeli propaganda would instead crack down on workers’ rights to freedom of speech on their own personal platforms," the group said.

Several police officers kept watch over the protesters as they continued their march to Musgrave Park.