“We refuse to stop the hate”: Sydney mourners remember Palestinian and Lebanese victims since October 7 | Israel-Gaza war

As the sun began to set at Sydney Town Hall, a few quietly lit candles as one person began to read the first few verses of a poem. Calls for resistance echoed throughout the city's downtown area.

18-year-old activist Hussein Abdullah took the microphone and admitted that he was a Lebanese Muslim. “I’m angry,” he began. “I am outraged – 365 days of genocide, 365 days since the world left us. The only other emotion that outweighs my anger is sadness.

“There are no words, no speeches, no actions big enough to capture a collective feeling. Grief has become our constant companion.”

It was a somber crowd that gathered for a vigil Monday evening “to honor, mourn and remember the lives of Palestinians and Lebanese lost in Israel's latest military operation that began nearly 12 months ago.” “

It began with a minute's silence, which was followed by a multi-faith prayer by members of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. A heavy police presence surrounded the meeting.

First, a Kaddish was read – a Jewish prayer that praises God and is traditionally said to commemorate the dead. Then Costandi Bastoli, born in Jerusalem and head of the organization “Palestinian Christians in Australia,” spoke.

“We refuse to allow unforgiveness or hatred,” he said. “May we guard our hearts from hatred and cultivate the desire for good for all.”

Cumberland Council councilor Ahmed Ouf asked the crowd to raise their hands. He recited prayers in Arabic “for the children, the women, the men, the people” of Gaza, Palestine and Lebanon.

The evening ended with the singing of Palestinian and Lebanese resistance anthems as the crowd waved candles and lights on their smartphones.

The vigil followed protests in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane on Sunday, a day before the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel.

New South Wales Police last week applied to the state Supreme Court to prevent both events from taking place. However, pro-Palestine organizers agreed at the last minute to hold the October 6 rally as well as the October 7 standing vigil, which did not require a protest permit.

“I am beyond proud of what the movement has achieved yesterday and today,” Jana Fayyad from the Palestine Action Group, which organized the town hall event, told Guardian Australia. “We showed the state, we showed the police, we showed the media that their ploys to vilify us didn’t work.

Joseph, a Palestinian and Australian, waited for the vigil to begin with a Palestinian flag around his neck and said there was “too much suffering going on.”

“We had a lot of relatives who were displaced in Gaza, in the West Bank,” he said. “It's been a year. Too many deaths. We don’t want this to spread any further.”

More than 1,200 Israelis were reportedly killed in the October 7 attacks and the subsequent military confrontation.

In response, Israel's bombing and ground invasion of Gaza have killed nearly 42,000 people and decimated neighborhoods, displacing 1.9 million and leaving another 500,000 with catastrophic food insecurity, according to the local health ministry.

The Israeli military is carrying out intensive airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the capital Beirut.

Meanwhile, about 600 people attended a rally at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney's southwest, many carrying Lebanese and Palestinian flags and others with Palestinian symbols. A heavy police presence included riot police officers and a helicopter.

At the gathering, Gamel Kheir, secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association, described the vigil as “exactly what is happening in the eastern suburbs, with respect for the lives lost.”

“This is not a celebration of any kind and it is disrespectful for people and politicians to act as if we are celebrating an atrocity,” Kheir said.

The event was intended to mark a “difficult year” for those with ties to Palestine, said organizer Faraz Nomani.

“There are catastrophic levels of death and destruction. We are here today to commemorate the fact that this sequence of events began on this day last year,” Nomani said.

As of 9 p.m. Monday evening, there had been no arrests at protests or vigils in Sydney, police confirmed.

Australian Associated Press contributed to this report.