Multiple protesters arrested after thousands attended Sydney Invasion Day rally
Protesters have been arrested for COVID health order breaches in after thousands turned out for an Invasion Day rally in Sydney.
Police have made multiple arrests following the end of Sydney’s Invasion Day rally, where thousands turned up to protest the date of Australia Day.
Five people have been arrested, with one in custody for heckling protesters as police swarmed a breakaway group in Hyde Park.
Witnesses said at least four police officers arrested one man as his partner stood nearby after dozens of protesters swarmed Hyde Park following the initial rally at the Domain.
What had been a largely peaceful morning quickly turned ugly, with the man’s partner telling NCA NewsWire officers jumped on a demonstrator as a scuffle between cops and protesters broke out.
It’s alleged the man pulled a female officer off the demonstrator, before he was arrested himself and thrown in the back of a police van.
He’s now being questioned by officers.
The arrests took place shortly after organisers sent protesters home following a morning of speeches, in line with a deal brokered with police that allowed them to mark the day without incident provided they did not march.
Chants of ‘no justice, no peace, no racist police’, echoed through the Domain on Tuesday morning, as officers created a human fence, ready to issue move on notices if the group breached strict health orders.
Despite earlier threats of mass arrests if the number of attendees exceeded 500, police were seen moving protesters into groups in a bid to abide by current health protocols.
Police at the Invasion Day protest told NCA NewsWire officers were counting people as they entered the park space in the city centre, before moving them into groups in a bid to a abide by current health protocols.
Despite a peaceful start to the rally, a heavy anti-police sentiment echoed through the park in chants and speeches.
As of midday, there was only believed to be one arrest – that of a person allegedly yelling racist slurs at protesters.
The crowd yelled “no justice, no peace, no racist police,” as masked protesters gathered, spread across the entire Domain.
COVID marshals donned fluorescent vests, offered up hand sanitiser and enforced social distancing.
Protester Jinny Jane Smith said she has been coming to rallies since she was “in her mother’s womb”.
“I’ve always been part of organising these rallies so it wasn’t a question about whether I’d be here or not,” she told NCA NewsWire.
“It will be painful. There will be a lot of truth telling and a lot of people are going to get upset.
“We’re here to spread the message and all we want is recognition for our people.”
Police were well outnumbered by protesters at the park, with groups of officers littered across the Domain to monitor the masses.
Officers formed a ring around the park, with officers ready to enforce the public health order, one member of the force told NCA NewsWire.
Protesters appeared confident in the fact they had outnumbered police, with one person heard yelling “they can’t arrest us all”.
Riot quad and highway patrol officers were also stationed around the park.
“When you see the coppers, they’re not listening. They have no love for the great people of this movement,” one of the organisers told the crowd.
Another speaker said: “Always was, always will be. Let this day go smoothly and show the cops what we’re made of.”
Mother-of-two Alia Bjad said the day is “hurtful” to Indigenous Australians.
“It’s disrespectful and it’s hurtful. We’re on Aboriginal land. It was never ceded,” she said.
Paul Silva, the nephew of David Dungay whose death in custody sparked protests last year, said he wants the day abolished completely.
“People are out celebrating the day like it’s a birthday or Christmas when our ancestors were killed,” he said.
“Our family has been demanding justice for five years. We’ve literally got f**k all.”
“Too many coppers,” he then chanted.
“They say ‘accident’.”
Most protesters were armed with signs, many scrawled with “change the date mate” in a nod to January 26 marking the date Australian land was claimed in the name of King George III.
Laura Hockey, great granddaughter of Alexander Riley (tracker) who was the first Indigenous Australian to be ranked as a sergeant in the NSW Police Force, said he wouldn’t appreciate how the force treats people of colour.
“I want the date to be changed because it brings a lot of pain to my family and ancestors. It’s really depressing for everyone,” she said.
Organisers, being represented by the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS), did apply for a COVID exemption late on Monday.
But that bid was quickly shut down by NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard before it even made it to the Supreme Court.
On the Facebook event, organisers promised the event would go ahead in a COVID safe way.
But on Monday NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Mick Willing warned officers would be enforcing the public health orders.
“Do not come in and be part of that public gathering, find another way to express your views and opinions,” he said.
Brisbane: Invasion Day message left on statue
A spectacular sea of protesters snaked multiple kilometres through Brisbane’s central streets on Tuesday to reject the celebration of Australia Day, chanting “always was, always will be Aboriginal land”.
About 5000 people met at Queens Park on Elizabeth Street in the morning before moving through the CBD, over the Brisbane River and gradually making their way to Musgrave Park — a site of cultural significance to the Indigenous population.
At Queens Park, red paint was splashed on a statue of Queen Victoria, which was also covered with an Aboriginal flag and a sign declaring “not the Queen’s land”.
Under the statue, about a dozen speakers took to the stage to share horrific anecdotes of family members killed in custody, Indigenous incarnation rates and poems revealing a loss of cultural identity.
Each speaker demanded a call to action to acknowledge Indigenous rights and to abolish the celebration of Australia Day, which is recognised by the community as the day of invasion when British settlers colonised Aboriginal land.
“This day here needs to be resisted. We need solutions for our people,” speaker Lionel Fogarty told the crowd.
“We need solutions, we need compulsory reading and writing of our language in the schools.
“We need to be able to read in our language and to speak in our language and to sing in our language and to revitalise that means we give our kids political power.”
Apryl Watson took to the stage and shared the story of her mother, Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day, who was killed in police custody in 2017.
“She was travelling on a train and she was asleep when she was arrested,” Ms Watson said. “She was racially profiled by the V-Line conductor and chucked in a cell.
“Within that first hour she had a traumatic hit to the head and she died 17 days later.
“The coroner found that the train conductor acted in a racist way but failed to find it in the police.
“Them fellas, right after putting mum in that van, drove to pick up a drunk white woman around the corner and drove her home safely and didn’t even issue her a fine.”
Throughout the crowd, dozens of volunteers braved the sweltering heat to hand out face masks and water, as well as providing QR codes for attendees to check-in in accordance with coronavirus requirements.
The peaceful rally threatened to boil over when a man adorned in an Australian flag attempted to provoke the crowd but he was gently escorted to the fringe of the rally and eventually told by police to leave.
Earlier, police closed off George Street between Charlotte and Elizabeth streets in preparation for the rally.
About 5000 people are participating in Queensland’s largest Australia Day event – an Invasion Day march through Brisbane’s CBD to bring light to the hurt and offence felt by many Indigenous Australians.
Melbourne: Flag-draped ‘Proud Boy’ swamped by cops
An Invasion Day protest in Melbourne on Tuesday was crashed by a counter-protester draped in an Australian flag who was forcibly removed from the scene by more than a dozen police.
The man was dragged out of the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets before being taken away by police.
He was wearing a shirt that said ‘Proud Boys’ – a Neo-Fascist, male-only organisation from the US often linked to white nationalism.
An Australian flag was draped around his shoulders and he was carrying an Australian flag beachball.
The man walked provocatively into the centre of the intersection, the end point of the Invasion Day march, and appeared to be alone.
He was approached by protesters before police rushed into the scene and dragged the man away from the protest as the crowd broke into a chant of “fascists, f**k off”.
It came after thousands of protesters gathered peacefully with a heavy police presence in the CBD from Parliament House down to Flinders Street Station.
A line of police in front of a line of police horses blocked protesters from the Parliament House steps when the rally began about 10am.
Almost all protesters were wearing masks but were packed in along the footpaths on both sides of Spring Street.
Protesters carried placards bearing signs like ‘Lest We Forget – Unless They Were Black’ and ‘Let’s Have A Day For Everyone’ but the street was quiet as of 10.45am on Tuesday.
A speaker opened proceedings by telling people to obey marshals and the COVID-safe plan.
By 11.05am the protest, due to begin at 10.30am, had not started as organisers implored the crowd to follow instructions and stay in groups of 100.
“I know it’s painful, I want to get going too,” the crowd was told.
“Find your group of 100. This is for the safety of our community.”
The first speaker at the rally called on the crowd to “fight for self-determination”.
Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Bill Nicholson said Australia needs to “wake up”.
He said Captain Cook called the arrival of Europeans an invasion, which “I wonder if Scotty Morrison up in Canberra knows”.
“If it comes from the Prime Minister, you can see how it filters down through the rest of society,” he said.
“Captain Cook – this is something he said.
‘In what other light can they look upon us than as invaders of our country.’
Cook saw it from the day he got here.
“The British tried everything to eradicate us after their invasion.
“It didn’t work.
He said the country was “feeling pain today”
“I want to welcome you all to this healing ceremony,” he said.
“It’s all imposed, illegal, in their laws and ours, their authority over Aboriginal people,” he said.
“They brought an economy here, and they took ours – the environment.
“To the mob out there, keep fighting for self-determination. Come on Australia, wake up. We want you to listen to our voice.”
Later a Greens senator slammed Australian parliament as “racist” while giving a speech at the event.
Lidia Thorpe said there was a “far-right rot” in federal parliament that was “stoking the fire” of racism.
“I see that racism when I’m in that place,” Victoria’s first Indigenous senator said.
“There is a far-right rot in this country’s parliament. They are stoking the fire of the far-right racism in this country.”
She said the “war had not ended” and called for a treaty between the Australian government and Aboriginal people.
“Our babies are still being stolen,” she said.
“Our babies are still being locked up and incarcerated. Ten-year-old babies are being locked up in this country.”
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