Thousands march in Melbourne
Thousands of people have joined a march in Melbourne to voice their concern about a range of issues.
March in March protests, spawned from a Facebook conversation in January between several people, started in regional cities on Saturday and are taking place in state capitals across the country today.
Organisers say the protests are part of a grassroots movement that has no affiliation with political parties.
They have been promoted by organisers as peaceful rallies to protest against the federal government's policy decisions.
Seventeen thousand people said on Facebook they would attend the Melbourne event and 11,700 said they would march in Sydney.
Victoria Police say they aren't expecting 17,000 protesters for the Melbourne rally but they have allocated resources to the event.
The three-day event will culminate on Monday when a statement of no confidence in the Abbott government is delivered to Parliament House.
Canberra organiser Loz Lawrey says the idea started as a conversation between a handful of people on Facebook in January.
"They said to each other, we can't just keep complaining to each other about this government, we have to do something about it," Mr Lawrey told AAP.
Protesters rally against 'broken promises'
"As that conversation became more public, people started saying: We'd like to be involved."
He says the movement has 45,000 supporters.
The invitation to march, circulated via social media, calls on people to "participate in democracy".
"Democracy doesn't end at the ballot box," the invitation says.
"It is the right, if not duty, of all Australians to hold our elected representatives to account; to remind them that they are, above all else, public servants."
Mr Lawrey said organisers made an effort not to allow any individual or group to own the movement.
"We're all just ordinary Joes," he said.
