Key Points
- More than 1,000 students in Victoria have skipped school to show their support for Palestinians.
- Politicians urged students planning to take part to reconsider.
- Among the students' demands were an immediate end to Hamas-Israel war.
More than 1,000 Victorian school students have blocked city streets and staged a sit-in at a major shopping centre in support of a "free Palestine".
The children defied calls from politicians to stay in school, instead leaving their classes at lunchtime on Thursday and making their way to the steps of Melbourne's Flinders Street Station to rally.
Chants calling for a "free Palestine" rung out as organisers encouraged the demonstrators to make their way onto the Flinders Street intersection, blocking cars and trams.
"We must demand Israel ends its genocide in Gaza," one speaker told the crowd.
"We demand the government cut all political, economic and military ties."
The crowd carrying placards calling for an end to the war then marched down Swanston Street and into Melbourne Central, where they staged a sit-in.
"We will never back down until Palestine is free," another speaker yelled.
Seba, 15, felt it was important to leave school early and rally in the city centre.
"No matter who you are - you don't deserve to die, you don't deserve to watch your family members die," she told AAP.
"I get education is important but it's not more important than people's lives."
Mazen, 16, had the backing of his parents and teachers to take the afternoon off to protest.
"It doesn't matter about school - there are people that are dying," he said.
People of all backgrounds attended the pro-Palestinian school strike in Melbourne. Source: SBS News
Bill Shorten's Melbourne electorate office vandalised
The demonstration came as the Melbourne electorate office of federal National Disability Insurance Scheme Minister Bill Shorten was splashed in red paint and graffiti reading "dial down the apartheid Bill".
Shorten suspects the Thursday morning incident was in response to his plea for protesters to "dial down the degree of aggro", after bloodied replicas of corpses in Gaza were left outside the offices of federal politicians last week.
He believes it was vandalised by the same group.
"Obviously someone took offence at me saying we should promote social cohesion and dial down the aggro in the confrontation," Shorten told Melbourne radio station 3AW.
Speaking about the student strike, he said while he understood the merit of protests, the world needed more people with an education instead of missing school.
Bill Shorten's electoral office in Melbourne has been vandalised. Source: AAP / Joerl Carrett
"There is no make-ups or catchups or redoes," he told Nine's Today program.
"If students aren't school then it will be considered an absence."
Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll also made a last-ditch plea for students to stay in class, saying it was the safest and best place for them to deal with any vicarious trauma.
in which more than 1,200 people were killed, according to the Israeli government, and over 200 hostages taken.
More than 14,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in .
Hamas is a Palestinian military and political group, which has gained power in the Gaza Strip since winning legislative elections there in 2006. Its stated aim is to establish a Palestinian state, while refusing to recognise Israel's right to exist.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. New Zealand and Paraguay list only its military wing as a terrorist group. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly voted against a resolution condemning Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation.
More than 1,000 people took part in the rally. Source: AAP / James Ross
Striking students call for immediate end to Hamas-Israel war
Melbourne rally organisers accuse the federal government of doing nothing to defend the human rights of Palestinians.
They are demanding an immediate end to the war, for Israeli troops to leave the Palestinian territories, and an end to military aid to Israel.
The Melbourne rally was one in a series of national student strikes for Palestinians.
In Adelaide, pupils held a demonstration at parliament house on Thursday, while students in Sydney, Wollongong and Byron Bay will protest on Friday.
NSW Education Minister Prue Car said it was unacceptable for students to skip school to take part.
The protest, to be held at Sydney Town Hall, is being jointly organised by high school and Sydney University activists.
Car said the university students should "stay in their lane" and leave high schoolers to focus on their studies.
