George Floyd protests in Australia | |
---|---|
Part of George Floyd protests | |
Montage of Australian anti-racism protests on 6 June 2020. These images are from the Brisbane protest. | |
Date | 1–5 June 2020 |
Location | Australia |
Caused by |
Shortly after protests began in the United States in late May 2020 seeking justice for George Floyd, an African-American who was murdered during an arrest by Minneapolis police, people in Australia protested to show solidarity with Americans and the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as to demonstrate against issues with police brutality and institutional racism, racism in Australia, and Aboriginal deaths in custody. [1] Vigils and protests of thousands of participants took place nationwide.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia began with the first recorded case in January 2020. By March, social-distancing rules were implemented, international borders closed to non-residents, and a series of lockdowns began in some places, responding to outbreaks of the disease. [2] [3] [4]
On 25 May 2020, US police responded to a callout. As a result, George Floyd, an African American man, was arrested for allegedly using counterfeit money. Once restrained, Floyd repeatedly stated "I can't breathe" whilst a white officer knelt on his neck, asphyxiating him. When footage of the event was released, all officers affiliated with the arrest were fired. Floyd's death was ruled a homicide by the coroner, with charges being laid against the officers. [5] [6] [7]
The murder of George Floyd lead to widespread protests in the US, as his murder became a focal point for race relations, institutionalised racism and police brutality. Police brutality in the United States was a longstanding social issue, with activists often protesting against excessive force and high incarceration rates of African Americans. [8]
Aside from solidarity with US protesters, these themes also resonated in Australia, where the media considering similarities with Aboriginal deaths in custody and wider social issues faced by Indigenous Australians. Oppression of Indigenous Australians is a prominent theme in Australian history. Despite encountering Indigenous Australians upon their arrival, members of the First Fleet invoked the principle of terra nullius to claim the continent. This was followed by a long period of recurrent massacres and violent conflicts. By the 20th century, the Australian government adopted a policy of forcibly separating mixed-race Indigenous children from their families, which remained in place until the 1970s. [9] [10] [11]
In 1987, the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody was appointed to investigate 99 cases of Aboriginal deaths in custody during the 1980s. As of 5 June 2020, an additional 434 Aboriginal Australians had died in custody since the commission's findings were handed down in 1991. [12] As of 2016, while Indigenous Australians accounted for roughly 2% of Australia's total population, they made up 27% of the national prison population, with incarceration rates rising markedly in the preceding decade. [13]
The George Floyd protests in Australia often referenced recent instances of Aboriginal deaths in custody. These include: the 2014 death of Ms Dhu in police custody; [14] the 2015 death of David Dungay (whose final words were "I can't breathe") in a prison hospital; [15] [16] the 2017 death of Tanya Day in a police cell; [17] and the forceful arrest of an Aboriginal teenager on 1 June 2020. [18]
Many Indigenous people were frustrated that it took the murder of a black man in the US to bring focus onto injustices in Australia. [19]
Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated his beliefs that violent protests would not create change. He warned against Australian demonstrations taking a similar course as "there's no need to import things happening in other countries." [20] Following major Australia-wide protests on 6 June, Morrison called them "completely unacceptable" and demanded an end to further protests. In addition to concerns around COVID-19, he stated that some protests had been hijacked by left-wing movements, and called for demonstrators at future events to be charged. [21] However, after being challenged on his assertion that there had not been slavery in Australia, Morrison acknowledged that "all sorts of hideous practices" had taken place in the past. [19]
The Labor Party did not directly criticise people protesting, but said that everyone should follow the authorities’ health advice. Senior Indigenous MP Linda Burney said that it was important for the media to focus on the issues, not whether people protested or not. [19]
Protests occurred across the state, Australia's largest, to show solidarity with American protesters and to highlight the high rate of death among incarcerated Indigenous Australians. [23] The protests were preempted by an incident wherein a 16-year-old Indigenous boy was kicked and pinned to the ground by a New South Wales Police Force officer in Surry Hills. [24]
Protests in this state were in violation of the state's Public Health (COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement) Order at the time, which banned gatherings of more than ten people outdoors for a common purpose without a reasonable excuse or exemption. [25]
Three major protests were held in Sydney. The first was held on Tuesday 2 June, where 3,000 protesters peacefully marched from Hyde Park to Parliament and Martin Place. [26] [27] [28]
The second and largest protest was held on Saturday 6 June, where at least 10,000 protesters gathered at Sydney Town Hall and marched to Belmore Park. The crowd chanted "I can't breathe" and held a moment of silence for George Floyd. [29] A counter-protester, who interrupted the protest by holding up an "All Lives Matter" sign, was handcuffed and removed from the protest by police. [29] A group of protesters was pepper-sprayed by police at Central Station following the protest, [30] and Acting Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon later defended this action as an appropriate use of force. [31] [32]
The protest caused significant controversy. Premier Gladys Berejiklian originally stated that she believed people had a right to protest, but later backflipped and deemed the protest "illegal" and in violation of the state's public health orders. [33] Following this, the protest was subject to a successful legal challenge in the Supreme Court from the Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force on the basis of health reasons. [34] [35] That decision was overturned on appeal by the New South Wales Court of Appeal just minutes before the protest began. [36] The Court of Appeal – constituted of Chief Justice Bathurst, President Bell and Justice Leeming – overturned the decision of Justice Fagan on the basis that the protest organisers had complied with the necessary steps in order to gain approval to hold the protest in an authorised way. [37]
A third protest was held on the evening of 12 June in solidarity with protesters at Sydney's Long Bay Correctional Centre, [38] where Corrective Services officers fired tear gas on inmates who spelled out "BLM" on the prison yard. [39] Approximately 300 protesters met in Hyde Park because of a significant police presence at Sydney Town Hall, the original location for the protest. [38] 600 police were involved in policing the gathering, and one woman was arrested for failing to comply with a move on order. [40] Mounted police and officers guarded a large statue of James Cook located in Hyde Park on the night, which was later defaced. [41] [42] A police officer was filmed making an OK gesture toward protesters, [43] a gesture which has been co-opted by the white power movement. [44] The Police Force denied that the officer used the gesture in an offensive way. [45]
Aboriginal deaths in custody is a political and social issue in Australia. It rose in prominence in the early 1980s, with Aboriginal activists campaigning following the death of 16-year-old John Peter Pat in 1983. Subsequent deaths in custody, considered suspicious by families of the deceased, culminated in the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC).
The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) (ALS), known also as Aboriginal Legal Service, is a community-run organisation in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, founded in 1970 to provide legal services to Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders and based in the inner-Sydney suburb of Redfern. It now has branches across NSW and ACT, with its head office in Castlereagh Street, Sydney and a branch office in Regent Street, Redfern.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people and to promote anti-racism. Its primary concerns are police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The movement began in response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, among others. BLM and its related organizations typically advocate for various policy changes related to black liberation and criminal justice reform. While there are specific organizations that label themselves "Black Lives Matter", such as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the overall movement is a decentralized network with no formal hierarchy. As of 2021, there are about 40 chapters in the United States and Canada. The slogan "Black Lives Matter" itself has not been trademarked by any group.
In 2020, a series of protests took place in California related to the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while in police custody. On May 31, 2020, the California Department of Human Resources advised "all state departments with offices in downtown city areas" to close on June 1.
This is a list of protests in New York following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
This is a list of George Floyd protests in Alaska, United States. Protests occurred in at least thirteen various communities in the state.
This is a list of George Floyd protests in Hawaii. Following the murder of George Floyd, protests spread from Minneapolis to other parts of the United States, including Hawaii. Protests broke out in Honolulu on the night of May 30 and spread to over four other cities over the following days.
This is a list of George Floyd protests in Idaho, United States.
This is a list of George Floyd protests in Indiana, United States. As of July 2020, protests had occurred in at least 25 communities throughout the state.
This is a list of protests brought on by the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in Kentucky, United States. In 2020, there were protests throughout Kentucky in reaction to the shooting of Breonna Taylor and murder of George Floyd by police, as well as the shooting of David McAtee by the Kentucky Army National Guard. The demonstrations happened regularly in the largest cities in Kentucky, including Louisville and Lexington. Many of the smaller cities had protests on at least one day.
This is a list of George Floyd protests in the U.S. state of Maine.
This is a list of George Floyd protests in Massachusetts, United States. Protests and demonstrations occurred in at least 33 cities and towns throughout the state, and as of June 10, 2020 protests had occurred every day since May 28 in Boston.
Following the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 25, 2020, protests erupted around the nation and world. Dozens of protests, several involving thousands of protesters have been held in New Jersey. Unlike in other areas of the country, protests have been mainly peaceful. This is attributed to relatively good community-police relations, memories of the race riots of 1967, and activist leadership maintaining focus on systemic racism. After protests in Trenton and Atlantic City grew violent on May 31, curfews were set for the first time. Residents of Atlantic City helped clean up damage after the protests turned destructive.
This is a list of protests in New Mexico related to the murder of George Floyd.
This is a list of protests in North Dakota related to the murder of George Floyd.
This is a list of protests that took place in Pennsylvania in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.
Protests were held across the United Kingdom following the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, by a police officer in the United States on 25 May 2020. Immediately following his murder, protests and riots occurred in dozens of cities across the United States. Protests were staged internationally for the first time on 28 May, with a solidarity demonstration outside the United States Embassy in London. They took place during the UK COVID-19 pandemic.
Shortly after protests seeking justice for George Floyd, an African-American who was murdered during a police arrest, began in the United States, people in Canada protested to show solidarity with Americans and to demonstrate against issues with police or racism in Canada. Vigils and protests of up to thousands of participants took place in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories of Canada.
This is a list of protests that took place in Los Angeles County, California following the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while in police custody.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)