Lidia Thorpe attends pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne CBD

Controversial senator Lidia Thorpe accused Israel of genocide during a speech to thousands attending a pro-Palestine rally.

The protesters gathered in the CBD on Sunday.

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has addressed thousands of protesters at a pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne’s CBD.

As more hostages were released on Sunday amid the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, the large crowd gathered outside the State Library of Victoria about 12pm.

Protesters march down Swanston St in Melbourne. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Tensions were again stoked in the city as one woman was spotted holding a sign depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a drawn-on Hitler moustache.

Many were carrying signs which included words like “we will stop when the genocide stops” while the crowd chanted “5, 6, 7, 8, Israel is a terrorist state”.

An offensive sign depicting Benjamin Netanyahu with a drawn-on Hitler moustache.

Senator Thorpe apologised for not attending prior protests, saying she had been “a prisoner” in her own home for the past five months in an apparent reference to the Voice referendum.

“I will not let this colonial system perpetrate and facilitate the genocide that is going on in your country,” she said.

Lidia Thorpe addresses the crowd at the pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne CBD.

“I will make a statement every day this war continues.”

Senator Thorpe also called for support from the crowd for her Blak Sovereign Moment.

“We also want you to show up on the 26th of January which is the day of invasion to us,” she said having railed against the ongoing “genocide” of Aboriginal people in Australia.

Victorian Greens senator Gabrielle de Vietri later addressed the crowd, dismissing the ceasefire.

“Four days to take a breath. Four days to have a meal. Four days to collect the bodies of loved ones,” the member for Richmond said.

“Free Gaza.”

A boy carries a sign at the rally.

She also called on the federal government to admit more refugees from Palestine.

“Our government is patting itself on the back for accepting 860 Palestinians when we supplied the weapons used to bomb them.”

Commuters suffered major delays on trams headed towards the city.

Public Transport Victoria claims the rally in the CBD may have affected all city tram corridors.

Some commuters have had to wait more than 30 minutes for a tram.

The crowd began to disperse shortly after 3pm, although thousands of people stayed outside parliament listening to music, waving flags and holding banners in support of Palestine.

Signs depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as Hitler did not contravene recent laws outlawing the public display of Nazi imagery, a police officer confirmed.

“The laws are more in place to ban the swastika, things like that,” the officer said.

Protesters march through streets

Healthcare workers began to lead the crowd at 1pm, which stretched to tens of thousands, on a march through central Melbourne.

“Palestine will never die,” the crowd chanted.

They also kept saying “to the river to the sea”, a phrase which has described by Jewish leaders as a “threatening and menacing rallying cry”.

The crowd then began to march down Swanston St towards Flinders St Station as a large police presence watched on.

Palestinian flags along with a Bosnian flag were waved at the rally. Picture: NCA Newswire / Nicki Connolly

The sheer scale of the crowd meant the march was progressing at a snail’s pace down Swanston St.

Protesters then made their way across Bourke St in front of throngs of shoppers.

“There are thousands of people at this intersection watching us,” one march leader said through a megaphone.

“Let’s let them know what we’re here for,” he continued before leading the huge crowd in a chant of “free, free Palestine”.

It then reached Flinders St Station where the crowd directed anger towards Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The scene at Flinders Street. Picture: Nicki Connolly

“Albanese you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide,” the crowds chanted.

“What we want is a permanent ceasefire, not a four day pause,” a march leader shouted through a megaphone.

After a pause, it then resumed its route to parliament about 2.30pm.

There were no signs of any physical altercations or violence with the march well marshalled by police and protest organisers.

Other speakers at the rally

A Jewish person, who identifies as transgender, earlier addressed the crowd, describing themself as a “beneficiary” of “colonial violence” before calling for the “abolition of nation states, police and prisons”.

Lidia Thorpe told the crowd she wished she had attended earlier protests. Picture: Nicki Connolly

The educator said they had received a huge increase in transphobic abuse since speaking up in favour of Palestine.

“I’m not asking for Israel to check people’s pronouns before carpet bombing neighbourhoods,” they said.

Sunday’s rally comes after about 500 students skipped school to attend another rally in Melbourne on Thursday, some holding offensive placards and chanting anti-Semitic phrases.

Senator Thorpe faced criticism last month over a post she shared supporting Palestine after Hamas launched an attack on Israel.

Senator Lidia Thorpe faced criticism over a previous post about Palestine. Picture: Martin Ollman

“I stand with Palestine,” she captioned the post on X.

“Unprovoked they said.”

Another protest leader said: “There are tens of thousands of us.”

The healthcare workers, who led the march stood on the steps of parliament, while chanting

“shame Israel shame, shame USA shame, shame Australia shame” which was echoed by the thousands who gathered on Spring St.

Protesters unfurled a giant Palestinian flag on the junction of Spring street and Bourke street as cries of “free, free Gaza” once again rang out before a moment of silence was held for those who have been killed in the conflict.