Pro-Palestine protesters scale Parliament House as climate activists occupy foyer

Two groups of protesters are staging action at Parliament House in Canberra , with one group currently sitting atop the building and another glued to pillars in the foyer. At least four pro-Palestine activists from the group Renegade Activists have scaled the marble pillars out the front of the building, unfurling three banners over the side of it in front of the Australian coat of arms. The banners accuse Australia of complicity in “war crimes” and “genocide”.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today A protester read out a statement, criticising the Labor government’s support for Israel . “We declare to the Australian government, we will continue to unmask and resist the US imperial, hegemonic and capitalist interests you devote yourself to,” they said. “Australia continues to enable and commit war crimes as lackeys to our powerful friends.



” Police are currently at the scene. The protesters are also chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, which is written on one of the banners. The phrase has been condemned by both Labor and the Coalition and many others, who ague the slogan is fundamentally anti-Semitic as it advocates a one-state solution in which Israel would not exist.

However, it has also been used by pro-Palestinian protesters and Labor senator Fatima Payman — who controversially used the phrase to defy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese — to call for justice and freedom in the occupied territories while still suppor.