Pro-Palestinian protesters breach security at Australia’s Parliament House to unfurl banners

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Pro-Palestinian protesters breached security at Australia’s Parliament House to unfurl banners from the roof on Thursday as a senator quit the government over its direction on the Gaza war.

Tensions over Israel’s war against Hamas dominated Parliament’s final sitting day before a five-week break.

The four protesters were arrested after draping the words “war crimes” and “genocide” as well as the Palestinian rallying cry “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” for more than an hour over the building’s façade known as the Great Verandah.

Inside the building, Afghanistan-born Sen. Fatima Payman, the only Australian federal lawmaker ever to wear a hijab during sittings, announced she had quit the ruling Labor Party over her refusal to toe the party line on Gaza.

“My family did not flee from a war-torn country to come here as refugees for me to remain silent when I see atrocities inflicted on innocent people,” Payman told reporters.

“Witnessing our government’s indifference to the greatest injustice of our times makes me question the direction the party is taking,” she added.

The first-term senator defied her government colleagues last week by supporting a minor party’s motion that demanded the Senate “recognize the state of Palestine.”

Australia does not recognize a Palestinian state. The government is committed to a two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state can coexist, in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders, the policy states.

Payman will remain in the Senate as an independent lawmaker. She is the first government lawmaker to leave since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s administration was elected in 2022.

Police said the four protesters