Hundreds gather for pro-Palestine rally in Perth

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Hundreds have gathered in Perth's CBD for a pro-Palestinian rally in support of those impacted by the Israel-Gaza war. The crowd condemned what it called the "genocide" of Palestinian people and called for an end to conflict in the region.

Transcript

00:00 As you can see behind me, hundreds of people have turned up in support of Palestine, many

00:06 from different communities waving the Palestinian flag, holding signs, calling for freeing Palestine

00:13 and also wearing the Palestinian scarf, the keffiyeh, as a gesture of unity and support

00:20 for the cause.

00:21 And you can see it's a relaxed atmosphere and many are protesting peacefully.

00:26 WA police have said they won't tolerate hate speech or scenes similar to what we've seen

00:32 in Sydney earlier this week.

00:34 And organisers of the pro-Palestinian rally here in Perth have said protests will be peaceful

00:39 and they will not tolerate racism or religious hate speech.

00:45 We've spoken to people in support of the Palestinian rally and here's what some of them had to

00:49 say.

00:50 These Palestinians that have come to the rally today, they're the ones getting phone calls

00:53 from their families saying we're being killed, we're being bombed, this is happening, that's

00:57 happening.

00:58 So I think it's important that people from outside the community come together and hang

01:02 out with them and show solidarity because we're not anti-Semitic or anything like that,

01:09 it's about their country's being taken off them, they're being colonised and now their

01:13 people are herded into open-air jails in their own country.

01:17 I just think what's happening with Palestine is just completely wrong and it's like for

01:22 the Indigenous people of Australia, I believe that Palestinians need to have a voice.

01:26 We need to stand up for them because they don't have a voice at home.

01:30 And as you can see, the scenes here in Perth are a contrast to what we've seen in Sydney

01:36 earlier this week where tensions were running high.

01:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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