HUNDREDS of thousands marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge today in a “march for humanity” calling for an end to the war on Gaza.

The defiant demo, with marchers including Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, was also an assertion of the right to protest after police and New South Wales authorities sought to deny it permission.

Organiser the Palestine Action Group estimated that 300,000 took part, which would make it the largest Palestine solidarity demonstration in Australian history. Even police put numbers at 90,000. Many marchers carried pots and pans, which have become an international symbol of the famine being imposed on Gaza by Israel’s suffocating blockade.

Marches for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza also took place in Adelaide and Melbourne.

Police acknowledged that the march was peaceful and nobody was hurt, after having originally refused the application, launched a week ago, on the grounds there was insufficient time to ensure it proceeded safely. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns also sought to block the march, claiming it risked Sydney “descending into chaos.” But the New South Wales Supreme Court denied the police application for a ban with just 24 hours to go.

Mr Assange was snapped chatting on the march to an unlikely co-demonstrator, former Australian foreign minister and one-time New South Wales premier Bob Carr.

And a state senator for the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, told the crowds Australia should apply “the harshest sanctions” on Israel for its “massacre” in Gaza.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has resisted growing pressure to recognise a Palestinian state, saying Israel’s security must be established first.