In Sydney, under the banner "Books not bombs," more than 5,000 students from more than 70 schools rallied at Town Hall, then took off on a fast and lively demonstration through the central business district. Students were still arriving on the march as it wound up at Hyde Park for a rally. Many stayed for more than an hour to listen to student leaders and peace activists.

Student marches of similar size took place in Adelaide and Melbourne. Hundreds marched in Brisbane, Perth, and Hobart.

Many of the students had been threatened with disciplinary action if they took off school to attend the protests. "They threatened us with expulsion, but we just walked out anyway," said one young woman who came with 14 other students from St. Catherine’s School.

The media tried to portray the actions as students just taking a day off for the fun of it. Prime Minister John Howard said the students should have been in school instead of "running amok through the streets." Howard had denounced the more than half a million who joined peace marches across Australia the weekend of February 16–17 as giving "comfort to Saddam Hussein."

Many youth opposing the Australian rulers’ war drive against Iraq face harassment by the police. A group of Arab students playing the Drimbaki, a Lebanese drum, on the train traveling back from the March 5 antiwar protest were taken off by cops, interrogated, searched, and humiliated in front of commuters.

According to eyewitness Rayyar Farhat, when the train arrived at Strathfield station it was detained by the police. A dozen policeman surrounded the doors at either side of the carriage, stormed the bottom section of the train, and rounded the boys up and out onto the platform.

The students were forced to kneel down with their hands behind their heads. Their wallets and school bags were searched, and books were taken out. The boys wearing caps were told to take them off and run their fingers through their hair. The cops made them lift up their shirts and jerseys, exposing their backs and stomachs.

They were ordered to put their banner, opposing Howard and U.S. president George Bush, on the floor and questioned about their whereabouts that day. After taking down names, the cops went away, giving no reason for the detainment.

"I could not see any purpose to their interrogation but sheer malice and intimidation and, of course--racism," said Farhat.  
 
Denial of passport to Arab youth
In another case of harassment of Arab youth, 19-year-old Zak Mallah, an Australian citizen whose parents are Lebanese, is contesting the federal government’s decision last June to refuse him a passport.

Mallah wanted to make the pilgrimage to Mecca and marry in Lebanon. His passport application was denied a day after he was interviewed by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). ASIO agents stated that "there is a risk he could engage in politically motivated violence."

On March 10, the ASIO and the federal government defended their decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, going to extraordinary lengths to keep their case against Mallah a secret. The tribunal conducted in-camera hearings to protect the identity of ASIO agents who carried out the security assessment. Mallah’s counsel David Berney wasn’t allowed to be present to cross examine the ASIO witnesses. The nature of the ASIO case and its sources have also been withheld.

In the only documents tendered to the tribunal, ASIO acknowledged that Mallah had no criminal conviction, no known record of violence, and had talked of returning to Australia after visiting Lebanon.

The Sydney Morning Herald notes that the ASIO writes reports on passport applications where security is involved and has been accused by the Council of Civil Liberties of "unfairly targeting people of Middle Eastern extraction."  
 
 
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