Attending the Melbourne Herzog protest, 12th Feb 2026
Along with many thousands of other Melburnians, I met outside the Flinders Street station clocks yesterday afternoon to protest against the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Australia. The protest was organised by Free Palestine Victoria.
Being my first protest since the climate actions in early 2020, I was a bit nervous given the violence at the Sydney protests just a few days prior (Crikey article here, ABC news article here). What made me feel a bit more comfortable was that it was a registered, peaceful protest that Victoria Police had approved.
The Sydney protests on the Monday night were the final trigger for me to join in the march, but other factors had helped out as well. My interest in the actions (and inaction) of Australian politicians had gotten me increasingly angry, and I'd also been frustrated by my own passiveness in not doing enough to stand up for the values I care about.
Being a bit paranoid about geotagging, I put my phone on airplane mode, but in hindsight that was unnecessary. A small portion of the crowd masked up in a clear display – something I interpreted as being done to hide their face instead of avoid disease – but generally people were using their phones openly, mostly organising to meet up with friends in the very large crowd.
When I arrived at Flinders Street, I got a good spot leaning against a fence at a nearby tram stop – and shortly after 5pm the official proceedings started. We heard from five or six speakers, mostly with some kind of story about the war in the Middle East, and giving us plenty of interactive chants all throughout. The one notable exception across the speakers was Gabrielle de Vietri (state Greens MP for Richmond), who pushed a strong anti-Labor message, as Victoria has their state election later this year.
Flag-wise, the vast majority of colours were of the Palestinian flag, with a few Aboriginal flags mixed in as well (several speakers linked Aboriginals and Palestinians through their shared history of oppression, stolen land and colonialism). The banners & placards generally mentioned Herzog and being labelled as inciting genocide by the UN, but Anthony Albanese & Penny Wong were named & shamed in a few as well.
Standing a few metres away from the speakers under the Flinders Street station clocks was the “Jews for Peace” banner. I saw a handful of people in the crowd wearing yamakas, so I can only assume that there was a decent number of people from Jewish backgrounds around. But there wasn't any Israel flags or Star of David-like symbolism being flown around – any signage in the white & blue of the Israeli flag typically had words written in hatred of the Israel government and their actions. Symbolism is a tricky thing: our national flags often represent the official structures that lead our country. For the same reason, I didn't see a single Australian flag. During the protest I empathised with the awkwardness and tension of being a Jew at an event like this; you want to cherish your cultural identity but you also want what's best for humanity.
Some of the speeches referenced those with Jewish heritage in the crowd, usually while making the point that we're all protesting a) against the act of genocide and putting humanity first (regardless of ethnicity), and b) protesting against the horrific decisions that governments (especially the Australian one) are making. I kept thinking of the phrase “no war but class war”; it feels like a lot of my values in recent years unintentionally stem from this phrase.
The speeches under the clocks lasted for a bit over an hour; it was about 6:15pm by the time we were told to start marching down Swanston St, then to turn right up Bourke St, finishing at Parliament. The organisers didn't need to give too many guidelines, but I do remember to “ignore interacting with the people that ignore the plight of Palestine” – i.e. leave the general public alone.
One part of protests that I had forgotten was the chants. It's a bit cult-ish at first but you learn the main chants very quickly, and because you're in such a large crowd it's comforting to scream out the same words over & over. I'm used to screaming out the lyrics to a song I know when live music is playing; chanting at a protest is very same-same-but-different. You learn the words, and therefore you feel like you belong.
I marched with the crowd all the way up to Parliament. There was a few brief pauses in movement (possibly due to traffic clearing up ahead) but it was pretty relaxed otherwise. The chants organically popped up throughout the entire crowd – in some cases you end up being halfway between two different chants so you aren't sure who to yell with. Nobody cares, everyone is just glad that we're all there. Everyone is contributing to the cause by being there and being part of the people power.
I couldn't stay too much longer once the crowd got to Parliament. I listened to the final speaker for a bit, bought an independent progressive newspaper for $5, and then carried on with my evening. I was off to see some live music – VOLA, a metal band from Denmark & Sweden.
Oddly enough, as much as I love going to live music and feeling that fun feeling of experiencing culture, going to the protest and resisting against something made me feel much more alive, present & focused. Instead of passively observing an event or performance, being at the protest was a simple way to actively put your views out into the world, instead of reacting to a post or arguing with people on the Internet. In a world that feels more digital than real, those opportunities & feelings are rare.