ISTANBUL

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Australia, including Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi, marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday as part of a rally calling for ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and humanitarian aid to be allowed into the enclave.

The bridge was closed to traffic since late morning, with protesters gathering in Lang Park in the city center in wet weather before walking across the world-famous landmark. As the march ended, the bridge reopened after being cleared of protesters.

While weekly marches have taken place every Sunday since October 2023, this was the first time the Palestine Action Group Sydney has held its protest on the iconic bridge.

The group wrote in a Facebook post that "March for Humanity" was for "everyone, every individual and every organisation, who cannot bear to do nothing in the face of this atrocity, to join with us."

It said the event "will send a powerful message to the world, to Gaza, to Israel, and to our own Government, that we are determined to stand up for humanity," calling on the authorities to facilitate the event.

"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 activist organization said.

NSW Police issued two geo-targeted alerts, ordering the march to turn around due to "public safety."

Police official Peter McKenna said more than a thousand police were deployed and the size of the crowd had led to fears of a crush.

While police said about 90,000 people attended, far more than expected, the group said "we had up to 300,000 people!"

"We had what we knew we would, a beautiful outpouring of humanity, marching side by side to end a genocide and demand our government sanction Israel,” the group wrote on social media after the march concluded.

“We've sent an enormous message to the world. Today the people spoke, and they said stop starving kids to death! Stop massacring people desperately seeking food! Stop the genocide! Sanction Israel. Free Palestine!”

The Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 60,000 Palestinians. The relentless bombing has destroyed the enclave, collapsed the health system and led to deaths by starvation and hunger.