Violence, Clashes between Police, Protesters during Australia Day

Local Editor

Australian police cracked down on flag-burning protesters gathered in Sydney for ‘Invasion Day' - an event to protest Australia Day, which is celebrated on January 26.

Thousands of people across Australia joined indigenous people to protest the celebrations.

The protester who initially tried to set the flag on fire, 20-year-old Indigenous Australian death metal singer Birrugan Dunn-Velasco, has been taken to the police station.

A woman was injured in the protest and was taken to the hospital, ABC News reported.

Protesters marched through central Sydney, calling on the government to change the date of Australia Day and chanting: "always was, always will be aboriginal land."

January 26 is considered a day of mourning by Aboriginal Australians. On that date in 1788, the first British ships arrived in New South Wales.

"We have been mistreated, slaughtered and beaten down since the day, so don't expect us to be happy little Aboriginals on that day," Ken Canning, one of the rally's organizers, told BuzzFeed.

Canning told a crowd that "Australians have woken up" and now realize that Australia Day is a day of mourning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

"That is not something to celebrate," he said, according to The Age media.

"It was an invasion. And it's still going on today," he added.

Indigenous elder Uncle Max Harrison, who came to a special smoking ceremony performed by Aboriginals in Sydney, expressed a milder stance, but also urged Australians to acknowledge what January 26 means for Aboriginals.

"I just hope that the public could understand and look at our cultural day within this day that they call Australia Day," he said, as cited by ABC News.

Protests across the country have drawn thousands of people. The Melbourne protest is the biggest, with tens of thousands participating, witnesses say.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team