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Pro-Palestinian protesters climbed on the roof of Australia’s parliament in Canberra on Thursday and unfurled banners with slogans as police locked down the building in the wake of the security breach.
The protesters were taken away by police after they climbed down two hours later. It was not clear if any of them had been charged.
At least four protesters were seen on top of the building, holding banners with slogans such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” in support of the embattled people of Gaza.
One banner read, “War crimes, enabled here”.
Israel launched a brutal ground and air war on Gaza after Hamas attacked southern Israel and killed nearly 1,200 people on 7 October last year.
The Israeli war has killed around 38,000 Palestinians so far, according to Gaza’s health ministry. It has also displaced 90 per cent of the territory’s 2.3 million population, according to the UN’s humanitarian agency, and left them facing starvation.
The security breach caused concern among Australian parliamentarians as the opposition coalition called for an investigation. “This is a serious breach of the parliament’s security,” the coalition’s home affairs spokesperson James Paterson said.
“The building was modified at great expense to prevent incursions like this. An investigation is required.”
MP Keith Pitt said there were “serious questions” that must be asked about how the protesters accessed the roof.
“I support an individual’s right to protest, that’s something that has been fought for and defended in this nation since we commenced,” he was quoted as saying by the ABC.
“But I don’t support an individual’s right to firstly put themselves at risk, as these individuals have done, and secondly to prevent the Australian public from accessing their parliament and seeing their representatives work.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters from the group Renegade Activists coordinated with advocates of other causes such as Indigenous people’s rights and the climate crisis.
At around 10am on Thursday, anti-coal protesters wearing “Rising Tide” shirts attracted the police and security personnel at the parliament building by glueing themselves to its marble pillars.
While they were being removed, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters climbed onto a portico above the main entrance, unfurling banners against Israel’s war in Gaza and in support of Indigenous Australians.
The activists on the roof read aloud a statement demanding the end of “American and Australian support for the genocidal state of Israel”.
They also sent out paper planes with their messages.
“To the Albanese government: we will not forget, we will not forgive, and we will continue to resist,” they said.
They also declared: “Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.”
Shaun Murray, a spokesperson for Rising Tide, which organised the climate protest at the parliament, claimed ignorance when asked if they were aware other demonstrations would take place at the same time.
“No. I guess it’s just democracy in action. This government has got a shocking record on genocide and a shocking record on climate,” he told The Guardian.
Responding to the protests, defence minister Richard Marles said: “I think it’s really important that we do everything we can to take the temperature down here. It’s not about denying anyone their right to have their say — people should have their say — but that can be done in a respectful way, which contributes to the national debate without doing anything to disrespect other Australians, to put people in danger and to give rise to social disunity.”
Pro-Palestinian student protesters in Australia previously filled universities in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra demanding they cut academic ties with Israel and end research partnerships with companies supplying weapons to the Israeli military.
