Thousands of Australians defy virus rules to mark ‘Invasion Day’
SYDNEY: Thousands of Australians defied coronavirus rules yesterday to protest the country’s national day, held on the anniversary of British colonisation of the vast continent that its Indigenous population marks as ‘Invasion Day’.
Officially recognised as Australia Day, Jan 26 also sees annual rallies drawing attention to the injustices faced by Indigenous people and calling on the government to change the date of the national holiday.
The celebration of the origins of the modern nation is a time of mourning for Indigenous Australians, who have inhabited the land for 65,000 years and view the arrival of British settlers in 1788 as the beginning of two centuries of pain and suffering.
Thousands of people gathered at a central Sydney park in defiance of police threats of fines and arrests for breaching a 500person limit on public gatherings, though organisers called off a march through the city that usually follows.
Police said five people were arrested, including one who was charged with assaulting a police officer, but praised the crowds as largely peaceful.
Authorities earlier refused to waive the cap on numbers, despite no new cases being detected in Australia’s biggest city for more than a week.
Australia last year failed to meet most key targets on closing the health and wellbeing gap between Aboriginal Australians and the rest of the population, with soaring incarceration rates among Indigenous people and a life expectancy about eight years lower than the national average.
Thousands also attended protests in other major cities across the country, with rally organisers encouraging attendees to wear face masks and maintain physical distance where possible.
In Australia’s second-biggest city of Melbourne, where an estimated 10,000 turned out to march through the streets, attendees walked in 100person groups to comply with coronavirus rules.