Tens of thousands joined a pro-Palestinian rally in Sydney on Sunday, organisers said, one of dozens of demonstrations across Australia, with some protesters expressing scepticism that a ceasefire in Israel’s two-year-old assault in Gaza would hold, Reuters reports.

The organiser, the Palestine Action Group, estimated a crowd of 30,000 in Sydney, the nation’s most populous city, one of about 27 nationwide. Police did not have a crowd estimate for the protest.

“Even if the ceasefire holds, Israel is still conducting a military occupation of Gaza and the West Bank,” Amal Naser, an organiser of the Sydney rally, said in a statement. “The occupation, as well as systemic discrimination against Palestinians living in Israel, constitutes an Apartheid system.”

Demonstrators hold a large Palestinian flag during the ‘Nationwide March for Palestine’, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, in Sydney, Australia, October 12. —Reuters
Demonstrators hold a large Palestinian flag during the ‘Nationwide March for Palestine’, after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza went into effect, in Sydney, Australia, October 12. —Reuters

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