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Thousands Of Australians March For Justice For Refugees

Thousands Protest For Better Treatment Of Those Seeking Asylum
SYDNEY TOWN HALL, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - 2016/02/08: Protesters at Town Hall Square gathered to demonstrate against offshore detention. With mounting public and political pressure against the Australian Federal Government an estimated 4000 protesters rallied at Sydney Town Hall to demonstrate their opposition to the deportation and detention of asylum seeker children to the offshore processing centers of Manus Island and Nauru. The protesters called for the abandonment of all offshore detention with the vocal message of 'let them stay'. (Photo by Richard Ashen/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Pacific Press via Getty Images
SYDNEY TOWN HALL, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - 2016/02/08: Protesters at Town Hall Square gathered to demonstrate against offshore detention. With mounting public and political pressure against the Australian Federal Government an estimated 4000 protesters rallied at Sydney Town Hall to demonstrate their opposition to the deportation and detention of asylum seeker children to the offshore processing centers of Manus Island and Nauru. The protesters called for the abandonment of all offshore detention with the vocal message of 'let them stay'. (Photo by Richard Ashen/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Coinciding with Palm Sunday, thousands of Australians have attended Welcome Refugee rallies around the nation protesting against offshore detention.

Executive director of the Refugee Immigration and Legal Centre, David Manne, addressed over 1,000 protestors in Canberra on Sunday.

He believes that the public sentiment towards refugees is shifting.

"Right across the country there are people... calling for change. They're calling for change from harm to humanity in the way that we treat refugees.

"From Darwin to Launceston, Perth to Melbourne and here today we're calling for change," Manne said.

Protestors around Australia also called on the government to grant a greater number of refugees residency in Australia.

In Melbourne, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young spoke, telling the crowd that Australians were sick and tired of seeing children and families used as political footballs.

Director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, Daniel Webb, told the Mebourne rally that more than 100 churches across Australia have offered sanctuary to those who faced the possibility of being extradited.

"We've seen every single state premier -- every single state premier -- support calls for Malcolm Turnbull to show some compassion," Webb said.

It is believed that over 50,000 Australians took part in the protests rallying for justice for refugees.

The protests follow the Parliamentary Budget Office's estimates that the government could save close to $3 billion if they close offshore immigration detention centres.

According to Christian teaching, Palm Sunday is the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem before he was crucified.

In the thick of the thousands of people at the Canberra rally #justice4refugees

Posted by Rural Australians for Refugees-Queanbeyan on Saturday, March 19, 2016
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