Daylesford New Years Eve Parade and Gala Committee called Victorian Police to remove a participant waving a Palestine flag on December 31.
The annual parade down its main street includes residents, local clubs and creative groups.
Locals David Holmgren, Su Dennett, Patrick Jones and Jean-Mark Dupre marched with a placard that said: “I’m sleep walking into an AI (American Israel state) Surveillance State”.
Dupre, an activist in Daylesford for Palestine, has organised weekly Palestinian flag waving sessions at a busy round-about for more than two years, receiving overwhelming public support.
Rachel Evans, who was visiting, joined their contingent waving a Palestine flag.
At the end of the first circuit and before the second, a parade organiser told Evans she could not carry the flag. “You can’t carry the flag; it is offending people, Jewish people.”
Evans was also told the parade was “private”.
Police told Evans she could not carry the flag, threatening her with arrest if she did not comply. Police also told her that she could be not in the parade as she had not “registered”.
A disappointed Evans folded up the Palestine flag, not wanting to be arrested.
Organisers of the Daleford New Years Eve Parade and Gala said, rather defensively, on January 1 the Palestine flag had not been “approved”. They also said “protest-style messaging or displays that are hurtful, divisive or distressing to members of our community are not appropriate for this event and not welcome”.
Evans told Green Left she attended the same parade in 2024 with the Palestine flag and did not encounter such censorship.
“It’s incredible that the parade committee censored the flag of the Palestinian state last year – the same year that the Australian government recognised the state of Palestine,” Evans said.
Daylesford for Palestine is hosting it regular Palestine waving on Friday January 2, from 5-6pm, and every Friday after.
[Follow Daylesford for Palestine Facebook page to get involved in organising against genocide.]