Pro-Palestine rally LIVE: Demonstrations kick off in Sydney and Melbourne

The warning was displayed on a screen in Hyde Park, in Sydney’s CBD,
reminding demostraters that flying Hezbollah symbols is regarded as a criminal offence.

Ms Allan said Victoria Police had been the ‘tools and the resources’ to deal with the protests which she described as ‘deeply inappropriate’.

‘It’s critically important to re-emphasise that October 7 is not a day to protest, it’s not a day to add to the deep grief and trauma that is being experienced by so many in our community,’ Ms Allan said at a media conference before the protests started.

‘There is a right to peacefully protest but with that right comes a responsibility to do so respectfully and understand what the grief and trauma is being experienced by others in our community.

‘It should be a day of understanding. We need to pause and see that conflict in the Middle East should not bring conflict to the streets of Melbourne or Victoria.’

Independent senator Lidia Thorpe made an appearance as thousands of demonstrators gathered in Melbourne.

Organiser Nasser Mashni addressed demonstrators outside of the State Library.

‘There are a lot of agitators about… Trying to make you say something you might regret that will hurt our movement. Ignore fascists,’ he said.

‘Embrace everything that we are, we are a movement of love. A movement of inclusion. A movement of belonging. If you have any hate here, you don’t belong here.’

A top police officer has warned unruly pro-Palestine demonstrators they risk being arrested for bad behaviour.

NSW police minister Yasmin Catley issued the warning on Sunday ahead of planned protests in Sydney.

‘If everybody is doing the right thing, no problem, no problem whatsoever,’ she said.

‘But if you’re not, you can expect to be arrested. It’s as simple as that. There will be no tolerance for misbehavior. There will be no tolerance for racial slurs, zero tolerance from the New South Wales Police.

‘We do not want the war in the Middle East playing out on our streets in Sydney. That anger has no place here.’