Australian students walk out of classes for ‘free, free Palestine’ protests

By Alperen Aktas

ISTANBUL (AA) - Hundreds of students in Australia's Melbourne and Adelaide cities on Thursday walked out of their classrooms to join a school strike for a "free, free Palestine" protest.

Students came together at Flinders Street station in Melbourne's CBD to support Palestine. The crowd overflowed onto the road, ABC News reported.

Zeynep Sumbul, who was asked, "Are you old enough to understand the events?", said: "If the children in Gaza are old enough to be bombed, I am old enough to understand."

The police estimated a total crowd of 500 school-age children at the demonstrations.

Last week, tens of thousands of people gathered in Australia in support of Palestinians and against Israel's ongoing attacks on Gaza.

Israel launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing more than 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is around 1,200, according to official figures.