Australia Day: Arrests as police clash with Invasion Day protesters
Violence flared at Sydney’s anti-Australia Day rally, with one campaigner’s eye-opening demand even stopping protesters in their tracks.
Largely peaceful protests calling for a change to the January 26 Australia Day holiday turned ugly today as police clashed with some rally goers with several people arrested.
Yet the number of arrests could have been far higher but for a last minute pact struck between police and the organisers.
Thousands gathered for Invasion Day protests in Australia’s capital cities and in regional centres. In total, upwards of 50,000 people may have marched according to estimates.
Crowds were told that when icons like Cricket Australia refuse to mark Australia Day “the walls are going to come crumbling down”.
In Sydney, one speaker at an Invasion Day rally said the future of Australia Day was already in doubt.
Others said changing the date of Australia Day was not enough and the whole celebration should be axed.
Another made a demand that stopped people in their tracks – $1 million for each and every Indigenous Australian.
The date of Australia Day, January 26, remains controversial as it marks the day the First Fleet sailed into Sydney Cove in 1788 formally declaring the land as British despite Indigenous peoples having lived on the land for centuries.
In Canberra, a man wearing a Make America Great Again cap and waving an Australian flag was forcibly removed from an Invasion Day rally by three men in bikie colours. As he drove away, the assembled crowd cheered.
In Melbourne, thousands marched from Parliament House down Bourke Street after a peaceful protest in which police refused to remove their hats, a stance in line with police procedure. An estimated crowd of some 8,000 filled the streets of Brisbane's CBD.
Police made a bunch of arrests in the wake of the Sydney #InvasionDay rally. This was not the main protest but rather a few breakaway contingents which were existing The Domain via Hyde Park. Cops tried to stop legal observers from assisting in this clip pic.twitter.com/j5u2MzNSuo
— Zac Crellin (@zacrellin) January 26, 2021
.#BREAKING after clashing with police, protestors have been pulled aside and ushered out of Hyde Park. #InvasionDay #auspol2021 @CentralNewsUTS pic.twitter.com/c4rjO1nReh
— Fred Pawle (@Fredkpawle) January 26, 2021
Canberra #maga out at #tentembassy pic.twitter.com/5MRnzOCZyZ
— Hilary ðŸ•â€ðŸ¦ºðŸˆ (@hil_clix_pix) January 25, 2021
REASON MORE WEREN’T ARRESTED IN SYDNEY
The main Sydney Invasion Day event passed off without incident with a socially distanced crowd of at least 3000 listening to several hours of speeches on a sweltering 38C day. Later, a breakaway group left the Domain and walked towards nearby Hyde Park.
NSW Police said the protest was unauthorised but they negotiated with organisers to divide the large crowd into socially distanced groups of less than 500 people within the park. A planned march was cancelled.
Five people were arrested including an 18-year-old Hill Top man for breaching the peace at The Domain. He was not part of the gathering.
Four others, including a 27-year-old Islington woman and three men – a 30-year-old from South Penrith, a 28-year-old from Wollongong and a 22-year-old from Katoomba, were arrested in Hyde Park, following a scuffle during which a police officer was assaulted.
The woman and the 28-year-old man were taken to Day Street Police Station.
The man will be charged with assault police and fail to comply with noticed direction re section 7/8/9 – COVID-19.
The woman will be charged with hinder police in the execution of duty and fail to comply with noticed direction re section 7/8/9 – COVID-19.
The other two men were each fined $1000 and released.
Just yesterday, NSW Police Minister David Elliot had said the arrest were on the cards.
“Unfortunately, anyone who attends will be exposed to fines and imprisonment,” he told radio station 2GB.
Police had been able to issue on-the-spot fines upwards of $1000 but the penalty for breaching public health orders comes with a fine up to $11,000 and a six-month jail term.
With at least 3000 people in Sydney, at least 2500 could have been arrested if they didn’t disperse.
But that didn’t happen largely due to an agreement with police struck as the rally was being held, organiser Ian Brown, a Gomeroi man from Moree, told news.com.au.
“They allowed us to occupy the Domain and for the event to go ahead so long as there was a no marching, so that was the compromise.
“The police, given the numbers, were very cooperative so we thank them for that,”
Crowd raises their arms at Sydney #InvasionDay @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/fKrP8gZuND
— Benedict Brook (@BenedictBrook) January 25, 2021
Assistant Commissioner Michael Willing later confirmed the deal.
“We were able to move a large number of people in and out of that area, let them talk about the issues at their heart, and then dissipate in a way which was as safe as possible,” he said.
WILD DEMAND OF $1M FOR EACH INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN
Among the protesters in Sydney was Paul Silva, the nephew of David Dungay Jr, a Dunghutti man from Kempsey, who died in prison custody in 2015.
“I’m here to demand the abolishment of Australia Day,” he told news.com.au.
“Over 200 years ago the First Fleet come in and murdered, raped and stole children of our ancestors.”
Mr Silva said “changing the date to is not going to make a difference”.
“That we allow Australia to celebrate a day when murders and criminal activity took place is just appalling,” he said.
One of the more eye opening demands from the many speakers at the event was that reparations should be paid to all Indigenous Australians.
Gwenda Stanley, a Gomeroi woman from Moree, suggested a figure: “A million dollars for each black person”.
Speaker Gwenda Stanley, from Moree, at Sydney #InvasionDay: “Don’t be fooled by the ‘Uluru statement from the arse’. Let’s do reparations before treaty. A million dollars for each black person and then we can talk treaty.†@newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/hy0YfEzTc2
— Benedict Brook (@BenedictBrook) January 25, 2021
“Don’t be fooled by the Uluru statement from the arse. Let’s do reparations before treaty. A million dollars for each black person and than we can talk treaty.”
AUSTRALIA DAY ‘CRUMBLING’
Another speaker said the future of Australia Day was already in doubt.
“Your citizens are waking up and our black voices are stating to resonate,” she said.
“If your icons like Cricket Australia can refuse to celebrate Australia Day then these walls are starting to crumble down.
“The time is up, and that’s why you continue to harass us.”
Earlier, in the Sydney suburb of Newtown, a fresh mural painted by acclaimed street artist Scott Marsh emerged at first light.
It showed Scott Morrison dressed as Captain James Cook next to two words, “Captain Cooked”, and the hashtag #ChangeTheDate.
Organisers at #InvasionDay in Sydney have asked protesters to break up into “500 small groups†after police put a cap of 500 ppl before they shut it down. With prob close to 500 pplright now at the Domain, that loophole could soon be tested. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/cnQP9JT6je
— Benedict Brook (@BenedictBrook) January 25, 2021
The coronavirus pandemic this year saw Victorians unable to gather for an Australia Day rally because it was deemed a public health risk by the state government. But Melbourne City Council did approve an Invasion Day Dawn Service.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the seated, 250-capacity service at Kings Domain was “a way of supporting an event that reflects that ancient Australian history”.
ULURU STATEMENT SLAMMED
In Sydney, organiser Ian Brown said the Uluru Statement from the Heart which proposed a voice to parliament, was not the answer.
“The statement doesn’t do enough. They have this idea the statement is a grassroots movement. There was no consultation done on my homelands.”
Backers of the Uluru Statement have said it does have grassroots support and was thrashed out with the consultation of thousands of Indigenous Australians over several years.
The Invasion Day rallies called for, among other things, a changing of the date to reflect the fact that for some it represents more than the beginning of British colonialism.
But there are wider aims for some. The axing of the entire celebration and a fundamental reshaping of Australia.
“We’re talking about proper clan treaties; self determination and recognising everyone’s sovereignty, not just people who had a continuous connection to their language and culture,” Mr Brown told news.com.au.
Naarm showin up!â¤ï¸ðŸ’›ðŸ–¤
— Lucy Thomas OAM (@lucylockit_) January 26, 2021
This photo doesn’t show it well (bc it’s a panorama) but everyone is wearing masks and getting into COVID-safe distanced spots before we kick off... #InvasionDay pic.twitter.com/g3tjb2M3hY
Invasion Day rally Melbourne: Thousands have gathered outside state Parliament House to protest Australia Day. Demonstrators from the Warriors of Aboriginal resistance group have laid signs on the ground. @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/SrOLqIGHv1
— Brianna Travers (@briannatravers) January 25, 2021
Thousands and thousands of people commemorating and mourning #InvasionDay in Meanjin/Brisbane. So many staunch young people! pic.twitter.com/ZMAW5XgeTA
— Ben Pennings (@BenPennings) January 26, 2021
Lidia Thorpe, the first Indigenous woman in Victorian parliament used her platform to call for change.
— Darren Hayes (@darrenhayes) January 25, 2021
On Twitter, she wrote: “Too many Australians still think January 26 is a day of celebration, but for Aboriginal people across this country, it’s a Day of Mourning.
“That’s why I’m inviting communities, councils and organisations to fly the Aboriginal flag at half-mast on #InvasionDay.”
Invasion Day protests have been planned for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart, Newcastle, Rockhampton, Lismore, Albury and Lithgow.
Read related topics:Sydney
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