Some Australians were not in a mood to celebrate the country’s national day on Sunday because they had long saw this as a reminder of the colonial repression. A few demonstrators took that hatred forward – by sabotaging statues of British settlers and the English king.
The damage to Sydney, Melbourne and Anbara was a new sign that the day of Australia, which celebrates when a British fleet sailed to Sydney’s port to start a criminal colony in the late eighteenth century.
Although some Australians represent the holiday with barbecue parties and billiard parties, critics notice that in the movement of centuries of persecution from the indigenous people. Some prefer to name it on the day of invasion or the day of survival, and explain their dissatisfaction through the protests or other works.
In Sydney this week, a statue Captain James CookWho claimed part of the Australian continent of the British Crown in 1770, was Iced. Her hand and nose were also cut. The statue was restored after facing a similar attack last year.
In Melbourne, a monument To John Batman, the explorer who settled the city on the land occupied by the indigenous people, was overthrown and It was destroyed on Saturday early. The demonstrators in Melbourne also spray the phrase “Earth” on a memorial to the Australian soldiers who died in the fighting in the First World War.
On Sunday in Canberra, the capital, there was a graffiti on a statue of King George against “the colony is falling”, someone wrote on his base in red.
Australian officials condemned sabotage.
“We must find it in our hearing and in our minds to respect the differences in views, but we do not let them turn into ugly,” he said. Jacinta AlanPresident of the State in Victoria, According to a report By 9News TV station.
Police representatives in the states of Victoria and New South Wales said on Sunday afternoon that there were no arrests or charges regarding sabotage in Sydney and Melbourne. The police in Canberra did not immediately respond to the investigation.
People protested Australia for decades. The recent protests were Supported by the movement of the issue of global black lifeWhere people are in the United States, Britain And in other places of the statues they saw Symbols of racism and repression.
Last year in Melbourne, the statue of Captain Cook was Posted in the anklesIt was a memorial to King George V Behead.
Many Australian officials are aware of the athletic colonial past in their country, and they are not afraid to say publicly. In one example, the Melbourne city website contains the “About” sectionNarrate“This talks about developing” a common understanding of the effects of colonialism and commitment to the original peoples. “
But just recognizing historical errors is not enough for some of the original activists. It was clear when King Charles III visited Australia last year.
“You are not our king,” ranging a sound shortly after Charles, who maintains the festive title of the head of state in the former British colony, ended the address of Parliament. “Give me our land. Give us what you stole from us.”
The sound belonged to Lydia Thorp, the original Senate member Activist of the Native Population Rights. When the security guards mobilized it from the room, the British colonies accused the genocide and demanded that Britain enter a treaty with the indigenous population in Australia.
Watch the king inadvertently from the theater.
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