By Andrew Brown and Caitlin Powell

Thousands of people have gathered in central Melbourne as pro-Palestine rallies kick off on Australia’s east coast, on the eve of the anniversary of a terrorist attack on Israel a year ago.

Australian Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni told the huge crowd gathered outside the State Library that Israel stood condemned for its retaliation, which has reverberated across Gaza and the Middle East.

“Will anyone speak of the dead children, dead women and dead men” in Gaza Mr Mashni said, as the protestors prepared to march from the library to Flinders Street Station.

“It’s shameful that we’re being asked to be respectful when we’ve had 365 October 7s in this period.”

A heavy police presence was expected at the rallies in Melbourne and Sydney, with attendees also being warned not to display symbols linked to designated terrorist groups such as Hezbollah.

Earlier, protesters were warned not to “play out” the conflict by using racial slurs or presenting “threats to public safety”.

Ahead of the Sydney rally in the CBD, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said if there was a need for officers to respond it would be “proportionate”.

“We take the position that it is an authorised protest for a peaceful protest, and that’s what we expect,” she said.

NSW Police last week sought to block the demonstration from taking place before reaching an agreement with organisers that their march would not go near the nearby Great Synagogue.

NSW Counter-Terrorism and Police Minister Yasmin Catley said there would be zero tolerance for “misbehaviour”.

“We do not want the war in the Middle East played out on our streets in Sydney,” she said.

“That anger has no place here.”

Some political leaders have said it was “regrettable” the demonstrations are taking place.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said it was “deeply inappropriate” to be holding protest event the day before the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks by the militant Islamic group Hamas in southern Israel.

“There is a right to peacefully protest… but with that right comes a responsibility to do so respectfully and understand what grief and trauma is being experienced by others in our community,” she said.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles agreed.

“The protests that are happening over the course of today and tomorrow are deeply regrettable,” he told ABC’s Insiders program.

“The anniversary of October 7 needs to be about October 7 and what happened on that day was the loss of more than 1000 innocent lives.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the timing of the demonstration lacked “compassion” and there was a high prospect of violence when tensions were high.

“Most people would agree that we’re not going to do much about Middle Eastern violence from Sydney, and we have to do everything we possibly can to prevent that kind of violence in Sydney,” he told Sky News.

Federal opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said the federal government should have made a bigger effort to persuade community leaders not to hold the rallies.

“We’re not saying that you can’t protest the Palestinian cause, we’re just saying pick any other day of the year than October 7,” he told Sky News.

More than 1200 people were killed during the October 7 attack and 250 people were taken hostage by Hamas, according to the Israeli government.

In response, Israel unleashed a bombing campaign and ground invasion of Gaza, killing almost 42,000 people, displacing 1.9 million and leaving another 500,000 with catastrophic levels of food insecurity, local health ministry sources report.

Israel’s military campaign has now spread to Lebanon as it hunts down senior figures in Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group backed by Iran.

Hamas is also designated a terrorist organisation by Australia.