‘Not a day to celebrate’: thousands protest ‘Invasion Day’
Protesters brandishing Aboriginal and Palestinian flags swarmed the front of the building in Canberra, while thousands gathered in Melbourne to make their voices heard.
Parliament House has been placed into lockdown after Invasion Day protesters swarmed the front of the building to protest Australia Day and Israel’s war in Gaza.
A group of Indigenous rights protesters amassed on the lawn outside Parliament brandishing the Aboriginal flag, amid chants of “always was, always will be.”
Others waved Palestinian flags and beat drums.
One woman yelled “F--k Israel, f--k Australia”, in response to parliamentary security shutting the doors.
The protest wrapped up at the tent embassy near Old Parliament House, where cries for Indigenous land rights mixed with pleas for the Palestinian cause. Some activists brandished signs calling for a boycott of Israeli goods and declaring the Jewish state was not “above the law”.
In Melbourne, hundreds of people gathered outside the Victorian Parliament House for the Invasion Day rally.
Some protesters brought the Aboriginal and Palestinian flags, with some signs at the event appearing to co-opt both causes.
Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, the event’s organisers, said January 26 “is not a day to celebrate”.
“It is an annual reminder of invasion, occupation, genocide and the ongoing impacts of colonisation that continues to destroy our lives, our land and our waters,” the group wrote on social media.
Free Palestine Melbourne, the organisation that plan the weekly pro-Palestine rallies, have told their followers they will not hold a march this Sunday.
Instead, they have instructed their followers to attend Friday’s Invasion Day protest.
“We urge you to show up as you do weekly in your thousands and build up consciousness within your networks of the demands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people this invasion day,” they said on Instagram.
Thousands of Invasion Day protesters are marching through Melbourne’s CBD. @australianpic.twitter.com/Lyj7c0S1sY
— Tricia Rivera (@tricialeerivera) January 26, 2024
The first speaker at the march said sprinklers were turned on at Melbourne’s day of mourning dawn service.
She also paid tribute to the Palestinian cause.
“Standing up for Palestinians does not mean that we don’t like Jewish people,” she said.
“And today we are standing in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Palestine. And we’re so sorry for what you’re going through.”
Another man said that entertainers and sporting figures who played in Australia were “supporting genocide”.
“All these tennis players why don’t they go and play in South Africa? There’s no apartheid there any more, but there is here and there is genocide,” he said.
“Taylor Swift, don’t come here, don’t support genocide.”
After two-and-a-half hours of speeches, songs and moments of reflection, the Melbourne Invasion Day rally began to march.
The enormous crowd, which had grown to at least 10,000 people, slowly started to proceed along Bourke St shortly after 12:30pm.
Along with the Aboriginal flag, protestors held the national symbols of Palestine, Cuba and many other countries.
Protestors chanted “land rights now” and “always was, always will be Aboriginal land” as they departed from the steps of Parliament.
The link between Aboriginal and Palestinian activists, a strong theme throughout many of the speeches, was clear in many of the banners held aloft by rally attendees.
One young woman held up a sign with the Palestinian mantra “from the river to the sea” written alongside the Aboriginal motto of “always was, always will be”.
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