Thousands of people across Australia attended Black Lives Matter protests on Saturday wearing masks and practising social distancing amid warnings from state leaders to call off the events on fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections, reports Reuters.
The rallies, dominated by a heavy police presence, were mostly peaceful. Protesters marched on the streets or gathered at public parks carrying posters that said “No Justice, No Peace” and “Sorry For The Inconvenience, We Are Trying To Change The World.”
“There have been people like my dad and Aunty Mingelly who have been pushing for change since they were my age - you know that was 50 years ago,” Jacinta Taylor, an organiser of the protest in Perth, told the rally.
“I don’t want to be having to be 80 years old and pushing for this kind of change for my children and my children’s children.”
Anti-racism protests were triggered around the world following the death late last month of African American George Floyd after a Minneapolis police officer was filmed kneeling on the handcuffed Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
Perth saw the largest gathering of all major Australian cities on Saturday, despite pleas from the premier of Western Australia (WA) state, Mark McGowan, to cancel the event until the coronavirus pandemic was over.
A Black Lives Matter protestor in Melbourne had tested positive for the new coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, this week, while Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned the mass gatherings were putting at risk the nation’s recovery.
WA Health Minister Roger Cook this week advised large gatherings were not advisable, although his wife, an indigenous woman, said she would join the rally.
Cook said in a statement his wife was a private citizen and made her own personal choices. “That’s one of the many reasons why I love her,” he said. “I have great sympathy for the cause of ensuring Aboriginal people and minorities are protected from racism.”
Protesters also gathered in small numbers in Melbourne and Sydney, calling for freedom for refugees stuck in indefinite detention.
Mayor urges people to avoid central London ahead of protests
London’s mayor called on people to stay away from central London on Saturday as the capital prepared for potential confrontation between anti-racism protesters and far right groups, reports Reuters.
Statues of historical figures including Winston Churchill, which have been at the forefront of demonstrations by anti-racism groups, were boarded up on Friday ahead of the expected protests in London.
“We have intelligence that extreme far right groups are coming to London ostensibly, they say, to protect the statues, but we think the statues may be a flashpoint for violence,” London’s mayor Sadiq Khan said on BBC Radio.
Khan also said that people should not join demonstrations during the coronavirus pandemic as there was evidence from the United States that those attending them had caught it.
The statue of World War Two leader Churchill outside Parliament was sprayed with graffiti last week after what had been a mostly peaceful demonstration over the death of George Floyd, an African American who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday it was “absurd and shameful” that the statue of Churchill was at risk.
“Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial,” Johnson wrote.
And Churchill’s granddaughter Emma Soames told the BBC on Saturday that she was saddened.
“It is above all extraordinarily sad that my grandfather who was such a unifying figure in this country appears to have become a sort of icon to being controversial,” she said.
Taiwan Black Lives Matter protest gets indigenous twist
Hundreds packed into a park in central Taipei on Saturday for a Black Lives Matter protest, with a group of indigenous Taiwanese given prominent billing to draw attention to discrimination against the island’s original inhabitants, reports Reuters.
The rally, attended by more than 500 people, mostly foreigners, was peaceful with only a very light police presence.
While its main focus was to show solidarity with anti-racism protests triggered around the world by the death in police custody last month of African-American George Floyd, organisers also wanted to draw attention to some of Taiwan’s own problems.
Savungaz Valincinan, an ethnic Bunun from central Taiwan, took to the stage to detail the difficult past of indigenous Taiwanese, who make up less than 3% of the island’s population, and call for broad opposition to any form of discrimination.
While indigenous Taiwanese “might not face as direct threats to our lives or fear like black Americans face in the United States”, many in Taiwanese society discriminate against them, for example by refusing to rent accommodation to indigenous people, said Savungaz, from the group Indigenous Youth Front.
“We don’t want any special treatment. What we want are the most basic rights that we deserve as human beings,” she said to loud applause. “We are coming out today to support this movement not because of sympathy - it is because we have also gone through the hurt of being discriminated against.”
While Taiwan has made huge strides in recent years to protect indigenous people’s culture and languages and ensure they are treated fairly, many still complain of ingrained prejudice.
The presidential office said last month it had received a letter suggesting Kolas Yotaka - a spokeswoman for President Tsai Ing-wen and an ethnic Amis - use her “Chinese name” rather than her “English” name.
Kolas responded by pointing out she had the legal right to be referred to in her indigenous language.
