Pro-Palestine supporters are planning to occupy the offices of Labor MPs across the country, in a national day of action over what activists claim is Labor’s failure to recognise Palestinian statehood.
A spreadsheet from protest organisers has listed every single member of parliament who voted for, against or abstained from the recent Greens’ motion to recognise Palestine as a state.
“We are calling on communities across this continent to take action at their local Labor MPs offices to force them to hear the demands of their constituents,” an Instagram post from Little Palestine At Albo’s, the group behind the sit-in outside of the Prime Minister’s office, stated. “The time for words is over. It is now time for action.”
Some protesters have planned “die-ins”, which will see fake blood and dolls placed out the front of Labor MPs offices, something that has been seen before in November at Peter Khalil’s electorate office in Coburg.
Nataline Farah from activist group Disrupt Wars told the Sydney Morning Herald she called the national day of action out of feelings of hopelessness, and “insisted [it] would be peaceful.”
“We’re not bringing conflict, we’re bringing peaceful protest. No one is calling for anything beyond picketing and flyering, and it’s our democratic right to do that,” Farah said.
The sit-ins coincide with Unionists for Palestine claims that Labor is ignoring rank-and-file members who voted in support of Palestinian recognition at this month’s state conference.
The day of action comes after Foreign Minister Penny Wong called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, demanding Israel halt its military campaign in the southern city of Rafah.
“The death and destruction in Rafah is horrific. This human suffering is unacceptable,” she told Senate estimates on Tuesday.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed since fighting escalated after October 7, according to authorities in Hamas-run Gaza. The Israeli death toll stands at 1,139 people.
Earlier this month, WA Senator Fatima Payman broke party rank in a speech in which she declared “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”. On Friday she stood down from the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade in response to mounting pressure from her speech.
Lead photo: Getty.
