Hawzah News Agency- But just how many braved the rainy weather to urge the Australian government to do more to pressure Israel to stop the death and destruction in Gaza?
New South Wales police said initial estimates put the crowd at 90,000. A spokesperson for rally organisers the Palestine Action Group said police had informed them 100,000 people were in attendance – but the group estimated the figure was closer to 300,000.
Just after 5pm on Sunday, the acting deputy police commissioner Peter McKenna said it was the largest protest he and the assistant police commissioner Adam Johnson had seen in their time in the force. Johnson also said it was the “most perilous” in his “35 years of policing”.
“It’s even bigger than my wildest dreams'', one of the main protest organisers, Josh Lees, said while at the front of the march at the midway point.
Dr Aldo Raineri, a senior CQUniversity lecturer and expert in crowd safety management, estimated the figure to be significantly higher than what police suggested.
According to the National Museum of Australia, about 250,000 people walked across the bridge in a continuous stream lasting nearly six hours during the reconciliation march. NMA called it the “largest political demonstration ever held in Australia”.
Asked how the crowd sizes compared, The former NSW premier Bob Carr said: “All that matters was that it was a big, beautiful success. A success with cheerful police cooperation and good-natured people motivated by the horror of Israel’s actions in Gaza''.
Source: The Guardian
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