An official reception for King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in Canberra was interrupted by an impassioned outburst from independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, an Indigenous Australian lawmaker.
After the British monarch concluded his speech on Monday, Thorpe approached and confronted him, accusing the Crown of historical injustices. “You committed genocide against our people. Give us back our land, our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land,” she shouted.
Dressed in a traditional Indigenous fur cloak, Thorpe demanded a treaty between Australia and its First Nations peoples. Australia remains one of the few Commonwealth nations that has not established such an agreement. “We want a treaty,” she insisted.
Escorted out by security, Thorpe continued her protest, declaring, “This is not your land, you are not my king” and exclaiming, “f**k the colony.” According to The Daily Mail, King Charles and Queen Camilla reportedly “laughed off” her remarks.
Earlier in the day, Thorpe, a vocal advocate for Indigenous rights, participated in a protest outside the Australian War Memorial during the royals’ visit. She reportedly had a minor altercation with police but avoided arrest.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reassured the royal couple of the nation’s respect, stating, “Your majesties are very welcome here.”
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott criticized Thorpe’s actions, describing them as “unfortunate political exhibitionism,” according to SBS News.
Historical accounts, such as those from the Australian Museum, reveal that colonial forces carried out over 270 massacres of Aboriginal Australians between the late 18th and early 20th centuries. These actions led to a drastic decline in the Indigenous population, from an estimated 1-1.5 million to fewer than 100,000 by the early 1900s.
Source: RT.COM
