Hawzah News Agency (Canberra, Australia) - Processions of men, beating their chests, marched along the edge of Sydney's Hyde Park and down Melbourne's Swanston Street as part of the day of Ashura.

Hijab-wearing women of the Shia faith also marched separately at the weekend to remember Imam Hussein ibn Ali (as) who was killed and beheaded at the Battle of Karbala, in what is now known as Iraq, in the year 680.

But they also had a political message, with women in Sydney holding a placard which read: 'Like Hussain we stand against terrorism and injustice.'

At Sydney's Hyde Park, more than 5,000 Shia Muslims gathered to hear a message of defiance against oppression, the Mail reported.

'This is the day of Ashura. It's not affected by century and whatever the tyrants and others try to oppress it, trying to silence it, it gets louder and clearer every year,' one man said.

In Melbourne, streets were also closed off as thousands of Shia Muslim men marched down Swanston and La Trobe streets beating their chests and raising their hands in the air.