Photographs from Tuesday, the final day of the three-day ‘Converge on Canberra’ mass protests against Israel’s siege of Gaza.
After two days of disruptive action across Canberra, on Ngunnawal Land, around 1,000 people gathered in front of Parliament House, on the opening day of the Parliamentary term, to listen to speeches from a range of Palestinian, Aboriginal and Jewish speakers. Independent senator, Fatima Payman and Greens senator, Mehreen Faruqi, also spoke.
A woman symbolically burned her Israeli passport in support of Gazans.
Despite Federal police cordoning off the rally to an isolated precinct, protesters broke police lines to storm the front of Parliament House. One was arrested outside, while 17 others were detained after holding a protest inside the Parliament House cafe.
As a result of the disruption, Parliament had to cancel its 19-cannon salute that usually marks the first day of the Parliamentary term. It was a powerful symbolic action, where the guns were literally silenced.
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