Dozens of protesters carrying Palestinian flags and slogans in support of the Gaza Strip disrupted the Australian Labor Party’s (ALP) annual state conference in Melbourne. This was reported by the public group Trade Unionists for Palestine, which organized the event.
⠀
The rally in support of Palestine took place before a speech by the country’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who heads the ruling ALP, and the head of the Victorian government, Jacinta Allan. A group of demonstrators blocked access to the meeting room and held a rally, “protesting the Australian government’s complicity in the genocide of the Palestinian people.”
⠀
“The Australian Labor Party, both in state and federal government, is facilitating the genocide of the Palestinian people and must be exposed and condemned,” Unionists for Palestine said in a statement posted on the organization’s Facebook page.
⠀
It is also noted that trade union activists will continue to hold protests, calling on “the authorities to sever all military and trade ties with Israel and impose sanctions against this state.”
⠀
“The Labor government is on the wrong side of history by failing to condemn Israel’s actions and war crimes against the Palestinian people. We will continue to protest until [Australia] cuts all ties with the apartheid state,” the statement said.
⠀
Earlier, large-scale rallies in support of Palestine were held in Melbourne. On May 15, several hundred people marched through the city center and threw red paint at the office of Victorian Deputy Chief Executive Ben Carroll. Student protests calling for an end to Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip are also taking place at Australia’s largest universities: the Australian National University in Canberra, the University of Queensland in Brisbane, the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales in Sydney, as well as the University of Melbourne.
