WikiLeaks supporters rally in Sydney

Hundreds of WikiLeaks supporters have rallied in central Sydney to demand the release of its frontman, Julian Assange, and defend the whistleblower website.

Four arrests were made as activists, some waving banners reading 'Hands off WikiLeaks' and 'We deserve the truth', marched through the CBD on Tuesday to voice their concerns. One man allegedly punched a police officer.

The group was initially refused permission to take over the main thoroughfare George Street at 5.30pm but police said they later gave the green light for a footpath march.

"It was a message to Julia Gillard that Julian Assange is not a criminal," activist Pip Hinman told AAP.

"If any charges have been laid, he has a right to have them heard in a court of law, and not be tried by governments and the media."

Hinman said about 600 protesters staged a peaceful rally and did not disrupt peak-hour traffic as it moved from Town Hall to the US Consulate at Martin Place.

"The police I saw were grabbing people from the footpath, they were pulling people onto the street; at the same time they let out their dogs from their vans and that's where I saw a few people getting dragged away," she said.

Police said three of the arrests relate to protesters who allegedly deliberately blocked traffic on King Street and refused to obey a direction to cross the road.

They were issued penalty notices.

Soon after, a 35-year-old Kingsford man was arrested after allegedly punching a police officer.

He was charged with assaulting police and is due to appear in Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court next month.

Police Assistant Commissioner, Mark Murdoch, said the protesters were initially refused permission to march because the mandatory five-days' notice wasn't given.

"The group gave one day's notice," Murdoch told AAP.

"We did offer to facilitate a static protest, we also offered to facilitate an alternate route and offered to facilitate a march along George Street at a different time."

The Support WikiLeaks Coalition (SWC) said taking part in a protest was a basic human right.

"We want to march to the US Embassy to show we oppose their attempts to silence WikiLeaks ... We can only conclude that the draconian actions of the NSW police are political," said SWC spokesman, Patrick Langosch.

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