CANBERRA, Australia
Pro-Palestine protesters climbed the roof of Australia's Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday in a security breach that was condemned by lawmakers.
Four people clad in black and
wearing traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, climbed the facade at
the entrance to Australia's parliament before rolling out banners. One read
"from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" — a common
refrain at pro-Palestinian rallies and an expression that has
been declared illegal in Germany. They stood there for about an hour.
One protester used a megaphone
to give a speech, accusing the Israeli government of war crimes. "We will
not forget, we will not forgive and we will continue to resist," the
protester said.
Israel has repeatedly denied
allegations of war crimes.
A UN inquiry found last month
that both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in the early stages of the war.
It said that Israel's actions also constituted crimes against humanity because
of the immense civilian losses.
The protesters packed up their
banners before being led away by waiting police at around 11:30 a.m. local time
(0130 GMT).
"This is a serious breach
of the Parliament's security," opposition Home Affairs spokesperson James
Paterson said in a post on social media platform X.
The demonstration comes after
recent cracks within Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor government which
suspended a Muslim senator after she broke with her colleagues to vote in favor
of Australia recognizing
a Palestinian state.
Since the war began on October
7, Australia has been the site of several pro-Palestinian protests, including
weekly demonstrations in major cities and a months-long occupation of
university campuses
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