Tens of thousands of people attended Invasion Day protests around Australia, with as many as 50,000 estimated to have shown up at Federation Square in Melbourne.
The crowd in Melbourne marched along Swanston St and were chanting “always was, always will be Aboriginal land”.
History, depends on who wrote it! #SurvivalDay #changethedate ??? pic.twitter.com/v45dEEsOhv
— Nova Peris OAM (@NovaPeris) January 26, 2017
Colonisation is not a celebration #InvasionDay2017 #AustraliaDay pic.twitter.com/U43VDVspn3
— Emily van der Nagel (@emvdn) January 26, 2017
Production company Umber Shoot captured video of some of the protesters down in Melbourne:
In Sydney, police and protesters scuffled after officers tackled DISPOSSESSED singer Birrugan Dunn-Velasco when he tried to set fire to an Australian flag. Dunn-Velasco had been speaking about deaths of Aboriginal people since colonisation.
The scuffle was caught on camera by BuzzFeed reporter Allan Clarke:
The Sydney Invasion Day rally just turned violent. pic.twitter.com/F66rQIJ292
— Allan Clarke (@AllanJClarke) January 26, 2017
Dunn-Velasco is reportedly being held at Redfern police station. A witness told The Daily Telegraph that a woman was pinned by police officers during the confrontation:
The girl was knocked over when the cops tried to arrest a bloke and as they swing him around, they crashed into the girl and she hit the ground.They fell over with the girl and her legs were pinned until they realised they were lying on top of her.I couldn’t believe the force they were using to arrest the guy and try and stop the flag burning. There were six or so cops who just piled into there crowd to stop it.
Incoming New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian condemned the protests, claiming she was “so disappointed” by the clashes with police in Sydney.
“We have a democracy and everybody has the right to protest but today’s about everything that brings us together,” she said.
“I’m so disappointed that people couldn’t express themselves in a more appropriate way on such an important day for our community.”
Estimates suggest that this years Invasion Day protests were much larger than the ones in 2016 and in previous years.
Source: The Age.
Photo: Getty Images.
