- Title: Thousands protest Australia Day legacy
- Date: 26th January 2019
- Summary: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (JANUARY 26, 2019) (REUTERS) ****WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS THROUGH CENTRAL SYDNEY AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL FLAG PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNER READING 'NO PRIDE IN GENOCIDE' (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREENS MEMBER OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY JENNY LEONG, SAYING: "Today is about standing in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people. The 26th of January should not be a day of celebration, it's a day of mourning. It's a day of recognition of the survival and the injustice done to Aboriginal people. I'm marching today on Invasion day and going to Yabun because I want to show solidarity, because that's what allies do." PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING AND HOLDING BANNERS POSTER READING "LEST WE FORGET" PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING AND HOLDING BANNERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER JACK PATTEN, SAYING: "A change of the date is a massive step forward, we think ahead rather than just thinking about the now. We may upset a lot of other people, but it's the broader spectrum, it's the future, which is the kids. In year one, two, three, primary schoolers, so that's what I think." PROTESTERS MARCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER EUGENE MCGARRELL, SAYING: "Having a celebration of Australia that doesn't include the first nation people, I think, it's an abomination to be honest." PROTESTERS MARCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROTESTER ANIKA VISVALINGAN, SAYING: "It's the fact that people are still ignorant today and act like things we've done. There's so much more that we can do, like the way Australia is right now, really puts us to shame and I think it's really heart-warming to see us all here today." INDIGENOUS MAN PERFORMING SMOKING CEREMONY VARIOUS OF PEOPLE HOLDING SIGN READING "#CHANGE THE DATE" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CHANTING "THEY SAY ACCIDENT, WE SAY MURDER" PEOPLE HOLDING BANNER READING INTERVENTION = LAND GRAB PERSON CHANTING PERSON WEARING SHIRT READING "WHITE AUSTRALIA HAS A BLACK HISTORY" (SOUNDBITE) (English) GREENS MEMBER OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL DAVID SHOEBRIDGE, SAYING: "That's the land we're on today and that's the land that was invaded on the 26th of January when some armed military types turned up a couple of kilometres down there and thought that this land was unoccupied. And for more than two and a quarter centuries, we've had governments that have failed to acknowledge the reality of that invasion and dispossession, the frontier wars and the genocides that followed that." PEOPLE WATCHING SPEECHES HOLDING INDIGENOUS FLAGS AND BANNERS SIGN READING "I'M THE GRAND DAUGHTER OF MY ANCESTORS YOU COULDN'T KILL!" PEOPLE WATCHING VARIOUS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE PERFORMING TRADITIONAL DANCES AT YABUN FESTIVAL
- Embargoed: 9th February 2019 07:33
- Keywords: invasion day Aborigines Australia Day setttlement colonisation protest indigenous Sydney British Australia
- Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- City: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Australia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0019YS1HS5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of people rallied across Australia on Saturday (January 26) calling for the abolition of the Jan. 26 national holiday in protests showing a deep division over a festivity intended to celebrate the birth of modern Australia.
While Australia Day marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the "First Fleet" of British ships at Sydney Cove, many indigenous Australians, who trace their lineage on the continent back 50,000 years, regard it as "Invasion Day".
In Sydney, a rally stretched along more than half a dozen of city blocks from Hyde Park to Victoria Park with about 5,000 protesters, who chanted, "Always was and always will be aboriginal land" and "No pride in genocide." Protests attended by several thousand people took place in Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian cities.
Australia's 700,000 or so indigenous people track near the bottom of its 25 million citizens in almost every economic and social indicator. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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