The huge protests in solidarity with the Palestinian people are continuing, triggered by Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah and its bombardment of Gaza.
Tens of thousands of people protested Israel's assault on Gaza and East Jerusalem on May 22 (and May 23 in Perth). This round of protests came the day after a ceasefire was announced between Israel and Hamas and a few days after a general strike by Palestinians throughout the entire region of historic Palestine.
The Australian protests are part of a worldwide solidarity movement against the apartheid regime in Israel where Palestinians have to bear second-class status, including mostly not being allowed to vote.
Jacob Andrewartha reports that more than 15,000 came out for Palestine in Naarm (Melbourne) on May 22, marching from the State Library to Parliament House. Construction workers hung a Palestinian flag in solidarity from a building site. Solidarity was shown by an Indonesian contingent, Kashmiris and sex workers, among others.
Rachel Evans reports that similar numbers rallied in Sydney — larger than the previous weekend's rally.
Two thousand people protested in Perth on May 23 reported Alex Salmon.
Thousands rallied also in Meanjin (Brisbane) to express solidarity and pressure the Australian government to boycott Israel.
Protests also took place in Adelaide, Cairns, Canberra and Wollongong.
More photos of the weekend rallies from Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth can be found on the Green Left Facebook page.
Even though the ceasefire is a welcome relief, it does not resolve the underlying issues — most urgently Israel's ongoing siege of Gaza.
More rallies are being organised this coming weekend in Melbourne and Sydney.
John Pilger's film Palestine is still the issue will be shown with an introduction by Pilger on May 27.
In Brisbane, the protests against the Land Forces arms exhibition will promote solidarity with Palestine.
Freedom for Palestine is the topic of the latest Green Left Show in which the participants Rihab Charida, Antony Loewenstein and Abe Quadan discussed the meaning of the general strike and the nature of Israeli apartheid.
