By Maeve Bannister, Samantha Lock and Fraser Barton

IN Canberra hundreds of protestors crowded around Garema Place before marching through the city centre in support of Palestine on Friday night. 

Many carried Palestinian flags and placards reading “free Palestine”, while one man held a sign reading: “This Jew stands for Palestinian liberation”.

Hundreds more gathered at Brisbane’s King George Square.

“Israel is a criminal state,” other signs read as police warned attendees violence would not be tolerated.

Organisers for another planned protest at Perth’s Murray Street Mall said the event “will be peaceful and we will show zero tolerance for racism of any kind”.

Police in NSW stand accused of vilifying people who want to show solidarity after officials flagged using “extraordinary powers” to target planned protests.

Organisers from the Palestine Action Group Sydney said Palestinian Australians had essentially been told they had no right to grieve or protest war crimes in Gaza.

“What we have seen in the past week in NSW is a draconian attack on our right to demonstrate in solidarity with the people of Palestine, who are currently facing a genocide in Gaza,” co-organiser Amal Naser said.

Nationwide rallies erupted after Israel launched retaliatory strikes in Gaza following the deaths of more than 1000 people at the hands of Hamas militants.

Some attendees at a Sydney protest on Monday chanted anti-Jewish slurs and set off flares at the Opera House, sparking condemnation from state and federal politicians and Jewish community groups.

NSW Police urged people not to attend a planned second gathering in Hyde Park on Sunday, despite organisers promising it would be a peaceful gathering.

Acting Commissioner Dave Hudson said police had requested authorisation to use rarely deployed “special powers” to search people and demand their identities at the rally.

Premier Chris Minns said any decision to exercise additional powers would only be taken if officers believed it was in the interests of public safety.

“Police are not considering these powers out of the clear blue sky,” he told reporters on Friday.

“We gave these organisers a go and they failed to control the crowd and it descended into violence and we can’t let that happen again.”

A significant police presence is expected in Sydney’s city centre and the broader metropolitan area on Sunday.

“There is a right to protest in NSW but there’s also a right to be free from intimidation, from incitement to violence, from racial vilification or actual violence,” Mr Minns said.

NSW Police Acting Commissioner Dave Hudson says the force is worried about violence.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni said he was very disappointed by the planned police response.

“Australians of Palestinian ancestry, who want to show support for Palestine, have somehow all been lumped in with 10 or 15 people who absolutely, unacceptably used some anti-Semitic slurs,” he told Sky News.

“If Palestinians and Australians who support Palestine can’t come out and express a concern about (the events in Israel) without being vilified as being supporters of violence, that’s just outrageous, that’s not the Australia we know.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong called for calm after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said non-citizens who spouted hate speech at the rallies should be deported.

“This is not a time for certain politicians to be seeking to play into the fear and division in the community, it is time for all of us to say we stand against all hatred, all prejudice,” she said.

Three men, aged 30, 31 and 40, accused of making Nazi salutes were arrested shortly before noon on Friday after police were called to the Sydney Jewish Museum.

They have each been charged with offensive behaviour and knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol without excuse.

Pro-Palestine events are also scheduled for Melbourne and Adelaide over the weekend.