Sydney’s streets to remain blocked each Sunday as pro-Palestine protesters vow to ‘keep up the fight’

Around 1000 dedicated pro-Palestine protesters have vowed to continue their weekly marches along Sydney’s streets despite a ceasefire in Gaza imminent.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - JANUARY 19, 2025: Free Palestine rally through the streets of Sydney from Hyde Park. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard.

Around 1000 dedicated pro-Palestine protesters have vowed to continue their weekly marches along Sydney’s streets despite a ceasefire in Gaza imminent.

The Palestine Action Group and its supporters descended again on Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon just hours before a hostage and prisoner exchange was due to take place between Israel and Hamas.

Crowd numbers have noticeably dwindled over the 66 weeks since the rallies began, with an estimated 1000 people in attendance on Sunday a far cry from the tens of thousands who marched at the height of the protests.

PAG organiser Josh Lees told the crowd their fight for “full Palestinian liberation” didn’t start on October 7 and “sure as hell won’t end on the 19th of January”.

While the announcement of a ceasefire had raised “questions about what is going to come next”, the group would “keep up the fight”, he said.

The Hyde Park rallies are still attracting more than 1000 people each week. Picture: Ted Lamb

“We will be back here in two weeks’ time … because we can’t afford now to just stop – we must remain vigilant and we must remain mobilised,” he said.

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi who also spoke at the rally said her party will “continue to demand a permanent and lasting ceasefire”, an end to weapons trade with Israel and other sanctions.

Many pro-Palestine protesters have little faith the ceasefire will hold. Picture: NewsWire / Simon Bullard.

While the announcement of an imminent ceasefire comes with “immense relief and hope”, she said, “this news also came with overwhelming sadness”.

“It also came with so much frustration, because the genocide should never have happened, and … it was within the power of nations like the US, like the UK, like Australia to stop it much, much earlier,” the senator said.

“We will not forgive, and we will not forget … because there is no justification for this.”

Friends from the Hawkesbury area Jenny Lloyd, Paul Caleo, Neil Dand, 86, and 84-year-old wife Jacki Dand have been attending the protests since the second week, and said they intend to continue to do so, holding little faith that the ceasefire would lead to lasting peace.

Friends Neil Dand, Jacki Dand, Jenny Lloyd and Paul Caleo from the Hawkesbury have been attending the rallies for more than a year. Picture: Ted Lamb

“Any talk of a ceasefire – and hopefully it does hold – is so welcome, but there’s a lot of uncertainty about how it will hold,” Mr Caleo said.

“A ceasefire doesn’t mean the Palestine is liberated, and we will keep going until Palestine is liberated,” Ms Lloyd added.

Gazan mother Sabreen Shahwan moved to Australia eight years ago, and said she was “very, very happy” to see the ceasefire agreed upon.

Adel (5) and Isra (6) with their mother, Gazan migrant to Australia Sabreen Shahwan. Picture: Ted Lamb

Attending the rally with her two children, 6-year-old Isra and 5-year-old Adel, Ms Shahwan is hopeful for an end to the bloodshed, and for her surviving family who are still in Gaza to be able to obtain basic food, like flour to make bread.

“I’ve lost a lot of my family – kids and adults, my uncle, my cousin, my nephew, his wife,” she said.

“I called my sister yesterday, and they can’t sleep all night until the ceasefire.”