SYDNEY: Thousands of people rallied in cities across Australia demanding justice and rights for Indigenous peoples on Monday, a national holiday marking the 1788 arrival of a British fleet in Sydney Harbor.
Crowds took to the streets in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and other cities on Australia Day, many with banners proclaiming: “Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
In Sydney, police allowed the protests to go ahead despite new curbs introduced after gunmen opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah festival on Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people.
Millions of Australians celebrate the annual holiday with beers and backyard barbecues or a day by the sea, and this year a broad heatwave was forecast to push the temperature in South Australian capital Adelaide to 45C.
Shark sightings forced people out of the water at several beaches in and around Sydney, however, after a string of shark attacks in the region this month — including one that led to the death of a 12-year-old boy.
