"Don't shoot", read the handwritten sign on a piece of cardboard held aloft in the crowd in front of Flinders Street Station.
It was a poignant reminder of the many US police shootings of black Americans that have triggered a worldwide response. 
But for the thousand-strong crowd who marched in a Black Lives Matter rally in Melbourne yesterday, concerns about racism went further than police brutality.
As well as showing support for the US #BlackLivesMatter movement, organisers wanted to highlight Indigenous Australian deaths in custody and the dispossession of people of colour in the region; including those living in West Papua, speakers told the crowd.
Speaking at the rally, Aboriginal woman Yarramun Conole said indigenous people were over-represented in the justice system, and still suffering the intergenerational effects of colonisation.
"The government really doesn't care for black lives in this country. For 200 years we have lived under genocide," she said.
Ms Conole spoke about the death of Aboriginal woman Miss Dhu, who died in custody when she was incarcerated for unpaid fines, and how frustrated she felt when non-indigenous peers told her she should "just get over it".
"How can we just get over 200 years of colonialism and continuing black racism?" she said.
"It's time we brought the Black Lives Matter movement to Australia to affirm that our lives matter. We are the people who are most vulnerable in this country." There was a large police presence at the rally in response to fears of violence from a counter-protest by masked members of the United Patriots Front.
A small group of masked protesters briefly unfurled a "Blue Lives Matter" banner on the steps of the State Library, referring to the recent shootings of police officers in Dallas, Texas.
Police on the ground confirmed that between 12 to 15 United Patriots Front members were at the State Library but left before the larger protest began.
The Black Lives Matter rally made its way down Swanston Street to Flinders Street Station after speeches outside the State Library of Victoria.
The Melbourne rally followed a similar event which was held in Sydney on Saturday.
The rally comes after the shooting death of two US men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, at the hands of police.