Protests continue to disrupt defence expo in Australia amid war on Gaza

Pro-Palestinian protests today continued to disrupt the Land Forces Expo in Australia for a third day.

The three-day defence and weapons exhibition in the southeastern city of Melbourne saw massive protests in the wake of the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.

As Australia’s largest defence industry event, the Land Forces Expo features over 800 arms manufacturers from countries including the US, the UK and Israel.

As attendees arrived at the venue, confrontations erupted, and several arrests were made.

The protests included slogans and sit-ins to draw attention to the destruction caused by weapons, especially arms supplies to Israel which has waged a war on Gaza that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians since 7 October last year and decimated the infrastructure in the enclave.

Describing the expo as an “extraordinarily dystopian festival,” Senator David Shoebridge condemned the presence of Israeli arms manufacturers, which allegedly sold their products to Tel Aviv for use in Gaza.

Urging the government to reject such promotions, Shoebridge said politicians were “looking for their next job” while companies were “selling weapons tested in Gaza.”

“And lots of public money is going to foreign arms companies,” he said in a video statement on X.

I just got out of the biggest weapons expo in the southern hemisphere.

I saw:

– Politicians looking for their next job,

– Companies selling weapons tested in Gaza,

– And lots of public money going to foreign arms companies. pic.twitter.com/NjGFdwlDxc

— David Shoebridge (@DavidShoebridge) September 13, 2024

According to SBS News, human rights groups are raising concerns about the use of excessive force by Australian police, who have employed pepper spray, rubber bullets and explosive devices to control the crowds.

WHO: 25% of Gaza wounded suffer ‘life-changing injuries’