Melbourne Students Walk Out of School to Strike for Palestine

Students across Melbourne walked out of class on Thursday afternoon to join the school strike for Palestine in the CBD, defying several Australian politicians’ urges to stay in school. 

At 12:30pm, students from around the city and regional Victoria, including from Brunswick Secondary, Thornbury High, Coburg High, Viewbank, Al-Taqwa, St Columba’s, Cranborne East High, Mac. Robertson’s Girls’ College, Elwood College, Caulfield Primary School and many many more, walked out of class and travelled to flinders street station. There were hundreds of students of all ages gathered to stand and march in solidarity with Palestine. 

They marched down Swanston Street, blocking traffic, through Melbourne Central and up to the state library carrying flags and chanting ‘free free Palestine’.

“To strike for Palestine is to defy our principals and politicians who tell us we don’t know what we’re talking about,” one of the speakers, year 11 student Audra, told the crowd.

“I walked out of school today with all of you to take a stand on the right side of history.”

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan had previously said she expected students to be in school on school days but that monitoring attendance would be up to individuals and individual schools.

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll went harder and said ahead of the strikes: “You want to change the world? You attend school and get educated.”

Members of Victoria’s jewish community said these politicians’ stances weren’t tough enough in an open letter to Allan and Carroll that called for intervention and said that rally organisers were exploiting children. 

But the organisers said the strike was organised “by students, for students” who are old enough to know that Israel’s siege was wrong. 

Audra also hit back at the politicians’ comments and said that the students were also marching for the thousands of Palestinian children who have been killed or displaced and can’t attend school. 

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Aleksandra Bliszczyk is the Deputy Editor of VICE Australia. Follow her on Instagram.