Australia Day 2019: A Day of Celebration and Political Campaigning
Australia Day, or as the left call it, Invasion Day 2019 has been both a day of celebration and political campaigning, as thousands flocked to their city centre or local municipality around Australia to either watch the local Australia Day parade or participate in protests.
The Unshackled crew covered the Melbourne festivities which kicked off with a parade down Swanston street. You can view our live coverage of the parade here.
The parade was largely multicultural with a small number of groups
with Australian cultural relevance, and the only slivers of British heritage to
be seen was a giant grand piano and a dozen penny farthings at the end.
The rest of the groups involved were of cultures from around the world such as the Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, Latin American, Vietnamese, Japanese communities and many more. There was also a section for the LGBT community featuring Miss Gay and Miss Trans.
Just over an hour after the parade had concluded the protesters came down the same street in their thousands. Baring signs that said, “Make Australia Black Again” or “White Australia has a Black History.”
A few patriots from the Melbourne scene, lead by Ricky Turner of Cooks Convicts, stood at the steps of Flinders Street Station and were approached by the protest crowd who proceeded to set up around them. Police were present, but were few in number watching the incident unfold.
The patriots stood there as the protest crowd yelled abuse at them
and tried to move them along, police did not stop them from being there. One officer allegedly stated to one of the head Invasion Day protesters that the patriots had a right to be there, but she was ignored.
The scene eventually got ugly when a fight broke out and the protesters tried to take Turner’s flag.
Police intervened and took both men away separately. We caught up with Ricky later that day at park outside of the CBD to get his thoughts on the matter. You can watch the interview here.
In summary, Melbourne’s Australia Day 2019 was everything you could expect from the city of Melbourne with its far left, multicultural reputation.
One of our followers commented on our livestream that the parade resembled “The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.” “Invasion Day” rallies littered the country, with big crowds drawn to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
There were no organised right wing protests to these rallies, rather a few individuals showing up to ask questions like Avi Yemini (in Melbourne) and Dennis Hutts (in Perth).
It is very clear that this is a divisive day on our calendar.
What are your thoughts on this year’s controversy surrounding Australia day? Did you witness any division over the politics of the day, or were you able to celebrate in peace?
Let us know in the comments.