Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Australian police on Tuesday said they arrested six people and ordered about 50 others to disperse after they gathered in Sydney to go ahead with a Black Lives Matter protest, despite an official ban because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The march had been called to highlight the deaths of Aboriginal people in custody, building on momentum from global rallies for racial justice and against police brutality.
The protest was led by the family of David Dungay Jr, a 26-year-old indigenous man who died after being restrained by correctional guards at a Sydney jail in 2015, despite footage showing him repeatedly telling officers he could not breathe.
Organizers had pressed ahead with the gathering despite the courts upholding the police ban, pledging to comply with social distancing restrictions.
However, police detained organizer Paddy Gibson in a public park shortly before the scheduled start of the march and ordered other participants to leave the area.
Several protesters marched through the city after being dispersed by police.
The Dungay family later presented a petition with tens of thousands of signatures to New South Wales Legislative Council Member David Shoebridge on the steps of the state’s parliament, calling for charges against the guards involved in the death of Dungay.
Australia on Monday reported its highest ever single-day increase in cases after a flare-up of infections in Victoria state.
The country has recorded about 15,000 cases of COVID-19 and 167 deaths, with authorities warning more people could die after the recent spike in cases.
