Thousands of people have gathered outside Flinders Street Station for a pro-Palestinian rally sparked by Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Melbourne today.
A succession of speakers is addressing the crowd.
One speaker, Noor, tells protesters: “They’re trying to scare us, and they’re trying to make us peer through their ridiculous laws.”
The violence and police behaviour seen at Sydney’s anti-Herzog protest has been referenced several times. The crowd’s mood is angry but peaceful.
Greens MP for Richmond Gabrielle de Vietri told protesters: “What is going on when the government is rolling out the red carpet for a member of a government that is committing genocide?”
As a party to the Genocide Convention, Australia had an obligation to punish genocide, and its officials should arrest people like Herzog as soon as they arrived in the country, she said.
“That is the normal thing to do, that is the right thing to do,” the Richmond MP told the crowd.
“At a time when social cohesion … is needed more than ever, Herzog’s visiting Melbourne just stokes the fire.”
She later took her best shot at turning the protest into a Greens recruitment drive. She asked the crowd to raise their hand if they’ve ever voted Labor before.
“Tell me, will you ever vote Labor again? I want you to say never again,” she said.
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