NSW Police have vowed “no tolerance” for violence from up to 10,000 people expected at a pro-Palestine march in Sydney at the weekend.

Police have cleared the controversial event to go ahead, saying they have been working closely with demonstration organisers.

It came as pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked access to Pine Gap, the joint US-Australian defence facility in the Northern Territory on Friday, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The small group of protesters gathered on Hatt Road near Pine Gap, the military intelligence base outside Alice Springs, from dawn until just before 10am on Friday.

One of the activists, who asked to be referred to only as Nic, said the group was there in the hope of disrupting military intelligence during the conflict in the Middle East.

The group, which included members of the Alice Springs Jewish and Indigenous communities, wanted to show solidarity with the Palestinian people, Nic said.

“The Australian government needs to stand up and call on the Israeli government to stop bombing civilians in Gaza,” she said after the protest.

“We want the Australian government to make that call and stand up against war crimes and genocide.”

Back in Sydney, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said “more than 800 police [were] ready to go” ahead of Sunday’s protest at Hyde Park.

“We have been working with organisers in terms of the police response to the proposal that was put before us in an application in the form one within the timeframe specified,” she said on Friday.

“We have been working to negotiate a safe passage for that group, and to keep the community safe.”

Ugly scenes marred an earlier rally at Sydney’s Opera House – which was lit up in Israeli flag colours. It included some protesters using flares and chanting anti-Semitic slogans.

Webb said 11 had so far been arrested on 22 charges relating to events at the Opera House and other incidents reported during the week.

“We are also dealing with applications, some known to us and some not, for protest activity across not just the wider Sydney area but also out of metropolitan areas,” she said.

“If there’s anybody that thinks that they can join in that protest and cause trouble, police will be there to arrest those that break the law.

“We will have no tolerance for those that want to play up and break the law – no tolerance for hate speech, no tolerance for intimidation, for the protest activity or anyone else who happens to be in the CBD tomorrow or anywhere else in NSW.”

Palestine Action Group spokeswoman Amal Naser said on Friday she expected up to 10,000 people to attend Saturday’s march from Town Hall to Belmore Park after NSW Police green-lit the event.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the peak body for Australia’s Jewish community, declined to comment on the planned march.

Thousands of Australians have joined protests in support of Palestinians amid Israeli forces’ bombardment of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip after a bloody incursion by the Islamist group’s fighters on October 7 left more than 1000 dead.

On Friday, there was a pro-Palestine protest planned for Canberra, while more rallies are expected to draw thousands in Brisbane, Perth and Hobart on Saturday.

In Melbourne, hundreds attended a rally in suburban Coburg on Thursday night, when the crowd paused for a minute’s silence in memory of Palestinians killed in the conflict.

Western Sydney Labor MP Ed Husic, the first Muslim appointed to a federal ministry, on Thursday said the Palestinian death toll from the current conflict had surpassed the number of lives lost in the September 11, 2001, attack in New York.

“We don’t see any public landmarks in Australia being lit up in red, black, white and green,” he said.

As well as the Opera House, other Australian landmarks – including parliament house in Canberra, the MCG and Brisbane’s Story Bridge – were lit up in the Israeli flag colours shortly after the Hamas attacks.

-with AAP