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“I think Australian politics has underestimated how strongly Australians feel about this issue … I think this is a moment, a sort of wake-up call for Australian politics,” he said.

“There was a lot of middle Australia there, and I think that’s something that can’t be ignored.”

Husic marched alongside Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, journalist Antoinette Lattouf, former Labor foreign minister and NSW premier Bob Carr, and Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi at the front of Sydney’s protest.

About 25,000 protesters marched in a concurrent protest through the Melbourne CBD.

The chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, said the Palestine Action Group was extreme because it organised a protest immediately after October 7, 2023, when Hamas murdered about 1200 Israelis.

“The fact that these people have now held yesterday’s rally and brought maybe tens of thousands of unwitting people with them who think they’re there for a cause of peace when truly they’re not, they’re being manipulated … that’s what’s disappointing,” Ryvchin told Sky News on Monday.

Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek praised the behaviour of protesters and sympathised with their frustration.

“I think Australians do want to send a message that there has been too much death, too many people have lost their lives,” she told the Seven Network’s Sunrise program.

“We want to see the hostages return, we want to see humanitarian access to Gaza, we particularly don’t want to see children starving to death as a result of this conflict.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns and NSW Police had attempted to block the Sunday protest last week, but the Supreme Court ruled on Saturday morning that it could proceed. The federal Coalition also argued against the protest going ahead.

NSW Liberal senator Maria Kovacic said on Monday it was inappropriate to close down a piece of critical infrastructure in Sydney for a protest.

“I have concerns, as did the NSW Police, in relation to the safety of that protest, and they were concerned about calamitous outcomes there, and it’s a good thing that that did not occur,” Kovacic told Sky News.

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