An unprecedented throng of protesters turned the Sydney Harbour Bridge into a sea of Palestinian flags and the centrepoint of public resistance to Israel's military action in Gaza.
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About 90,000 turned out on a wet and windy Sunday to spotlight suffering in Gaza after a police order to prohibit the protest was rejected by a court.
Organiser Palestine Action Group said it aimed to draw attention to what the United Nations has described as worsening famine conditions in Gaza.
Several Labor MPs including former NSW Labor premier and former federal foreign minister Bob Carr joined the march in defiance of Premier Chris Minns alongside multiple Greens and independent colleagues.
The premier previously warned the city would "descend into chaos" if the protest went ahead.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange joined Mr Carr at the rally with the pair seen leading the crowd and clutching a giant "Save Gaza" placard.
Former Socceroos captain Craig Foster and former boxer and rugby league star Anthony Mundine added to the list of prominent attendees.
Australians have been watching "an avalanche of atrocities that cannot be denied or erased", Foster told the crowd.
"As a country we've said much but not acted as we must," he said.
About an hour into the march and with increasing concerns for public safety, police urged protesters on the bridge to turn around "to avoid a crowd crush" and "risk of injury due to the huge number of people taking part".
The force permitted protesters to return southbound across the bridge to the Sydney CBD after the march was initially proposed to end in North Sydney.
By 5pm, bridge lanes had reopened in both directions.
NSW Police Acting Commissioner Peter McKenna estimated attendance at about 90,000 people and described the crowd as the largest he had seen in Sydney.
"We were really overwhelmed with numbers," he told reporters on Sunday evening, noting attendees were well behaved and thanking them for complying with police orders.
Acting Assistant Commissioner Adam Johnson described the situation as "perilous" and worried police were going to have a "major incident with potential loss of life".
"I can honestly say in my 35 years of policing, that was a perilous situation ... I've never seen a more perilous situation," he said.
Rally speaker and independent Jewish journalist and author Antony Loewenstein said he saw "no evidence" the huge number of people who attended were in any physical danger due to the crowd's size.
"Police are trying to create a fiction around an event they maybe weren't prepared for," he said.
Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley questioned the shutting down of a "critical piece of infrastructure" in Sydney.
"I respect the right of free speech and protest, but this is taking it to another level ... the protest could happen elsewhere," Ms Ley told Sky News.
Labor backbencher Ed Husic, who has been more outspoken on ending the war in Gaza, emphasised unity.
First time protesters and friends Ian Robertson, 74, and Greg Mullins, 66, said they hoped their attendance could make a difference.
"The world's gone mad," Mr Mullins told AAP.
"I came today because I don't want my kids telling me what were you doing when this mass murder and genocide was going on," Mr Robertson said.
About 25,000 protesters also marched through Melbourne to block a major CBD thoroughfare but were stopped by a wall of riot police at the entrance to the King Street Bridge.
Many in the crowd banged pots and pans in a nod to mounting concerns about mass starvation in Gaza.
More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to local health authorities, while the United Nations says dozens of people have died in recent weeks due to starvation.
Israel's military campaign began after militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking more than 251 hostages.
Australian Associated Press
