Beattie meets with protest delegation
COMMONWEALTH Games protestors have demanded Prince Charles take a message back to “his mummy”.
“We’ve got a message for Prince Charles, you need to tell your mummy, she is not Queen, she is not sovereign of this country,” said protestor Gwenda Stanley of Queen Elizabeth II. “We will not stand in silence no more.”
Ms Stanley was part of a small delegation invited to meet Commonwealth Games organising committee boss Peter Beattie at Main Beach after protests disrupted the opening days of the city’s biggest-ever event.
Mr Beattie told the delegation he met with them out of respect. He said he was not part of the government, but was happy to pass their message and demands on.
Among the delegation was Dylan Voller, who was at the centre of the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre controversy that made national headlines
Mr Voller was arrested on Wednesday night for his involvement in a protest outside the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.
The delegation discussed issues with Mr Beattie behind the protest action.
In the midst of a peaceful but vocal rally in front of the Palazzo Versace, police negotiators approached protesters and asked them to form a delegation of no more than four people to talk to Mr Beattie, who in 1971 was involved in a fiery clash between students and police at the height of the anti-apartheid protests over the South African Springbok rugby union tour.
Mr Voller, now 20, was the focus of outrage at youth detention practices in the Northern Territory in 2016 when images appeared of him hooded and shackled in a chair in custody.
He and activist Ruby Wharton were two of the three protesters arrested at the opening ceremony. They were joined yesterday by Dale Ruska and Ms Stanley, from the near 100strong protest group, for the meeting with Mr Beattie.
Voller told the GOLDOC chairman: “We’re not here to cause trouble, for violence, we’re here for peaceful (protest). We respect the athletes, but we don’t respect what it’s about.”
Mr Voller told the Bulletin after the meeting that the action would continue and explained why he had come to the Gold Coast.
“I’m here in solidarity with all my brothers and sisters and aunties and uncles, from all over the country, to fight and support and rally up against the system that has brought us down,” he said. “A lot of it (his past) does come out in these protests, but at the end of the day I have to put that behind me and focus on now.
“I don’t care what’s happened in my past, I’m looking at now and fighting to try and help my sisters and brothers.
“I’ll continue to look at what we can do today to make a difference to get our voices heard.”
He said police had unduly targeted the group, especially during the protest outside Carrara Stadium for the opening ceremony.
“The other night was a good example. Us three were purposefully targeted because we were the three who didn’t care, we put ourselves on the front line.
“If that means getting into trouble, then we’re the three who will do that.”
Another protester who did not want to be named said the opening ceremony arrests were a set-up, with someone telling them they had 10 free tickets to the event.
“When we went to go in, they said there was no tickets, the police got in our face and what happened happened.”
Ruby Wharton said they were keen to open the dialogue with not only dignitaries, but the wider community.
“We want to start that dialogue, that conversation, it’s something that hasn’t been happening … a lot people often say they didn’t know about the past and ignorance is no longer an excuse.”