Thousands of protesters gathered in central Sydney on Saturday for the ’Stop All Black Deaths in Custody’ rally after the ban on the protest was overturned just minutes earlier.

Initially blocked by a Supreme Court ruling due to coronavirus safety concerns, the rally, which came about in response to the killing of both George Floyd in the USA and an Aboriginal man in police custody in Acacia, was authorised after organisers made a last ditch appeal.

Prior to the U-turn, protesters had said they would march anyway and over 2,000 had already gathered before the decision was announced.

They marched along in their masses chanting “Whose lives matter? Black lives matter” while clapping and shouting Floyd’s last words ’I can’t breathe’.

Green MP and member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, David Shoebridge said: "This is one of those moments, you know, when you fight the system and it's a system that's been in place against First Nations people for centuries. 

“But sometimes you have those moments when you have a win over the system,” he added.

The enormous crowd held a minute’s silence and the protest was entirely peaceful with no reports of violence.

Hand sanitiser was also handed out and marchers wore masks in order to reduce the spread of covid-19, although there were clearly issues around social distancing measures.