Australian PM dragged to safety through a crowd of Aboriginal protesters after being ambushed

[WKUHilltopper]

Australian PM dragged to safety through a crowd of Aboriginal protesters after being ambushed in restaurant

She and opposition leader Tony Abbott were handing out medals on Australia Day

Crowd angered by criticism of Aboriginal Tent Embassy - centre of fight for sovereignty

By Jill Reilly

Last updated at 3:42 PM on 26th January 2012

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard clung to her bodyguard as she was dragged to safety through a crowd of angry protesters in Canberra today.

Riot police formed a shield around the prime minister as they helped her force a path through the protesters who surrounded a restaurant where she was attending an awards ceremony to mark Australia Day.

Miss Gillard stumbled after losing a shoe in the scuffle, but was caught by her personal security guard and managed to get into a waiting car.
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Extraordinary scenes: Julia Gillard clung to her bodyguard as she was dragged away from a crowd of angry protesters which surrounded a Canberra restaurant she was in today

Extraordinary scenes: Julia Gillard clings to her bodyguard as she is half-carried away from protesters in Canberra today

Police escort: Miss Gillard stumbled after she lost her shoe in the scuffle, but was caught by her personal security guard

Chaotic: Miss Gillard stumbles and loses a shoe in the scuffle, but is caught by her personal security guard
Police escort: Riot police helped her force a path through a crowd of rowdy protesters following a ceremony to mark Australia's national day

Scramble: Riot police help her force a path through a crowd of rowdy protesters following a ceremony to mark Australia Day

Headed to safety: Dozens of extra police, were called and after 20 minutes they escorted her from the building to an awaiting car

Heading to safety: Dozens of extra police were called and after 20 minutes they escorted Miss Gillard from the building to an awaiting car

The protests appear to have been aimed primarily at opposition leader Tony Abbott, who was also in the building when some 200 demonstrators began banging on its windows, shouting 'shame' and 'racist'.

Mr Abbott had angered activists earlier in the day by saying it was time the nearby Aboriginal Tent Embassy 'moved on'.

The embassy, a ramshackle collection of tents and shelters on the lawn of Parliament House, is at the centre of the campaign for Aboriginal sovereignty and land rights.

Demonstrators had gathered to celebrate its 40th anniversary when they heard that Mr Abbott was nearby.

Taking no risks: An Aboriginal protester stands in front of policemen - thousands of indigenous Australians travelled to Canberra as the embassy was celebrated a 40-year milestone with a three-day 'Corroboree for Sovereignty'

Taking no risks: A protester stands in front of policemen in Canberra as thousands of indigenous Australians gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy
The protesters had been demonstrating for indigenous rights nearby at the so-called Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a ramshackle collection of tents and temporary shelters in the national capital that is a center point of protests against Australia Day

Protest centre: The Aboriginal Tent Embassy, a collection of shelters on the lawns at Parliament House in Canberra, is celebrating its 40th anniversary

Miss Gillard and Mr Abbott had been handing out inaugural National Emergency Medals, presented as the country marked Australia Day.

Dozens of extra police were called to the scene and escorted them from the building after 20 minutes.

Australia Day marks the arrival of the first fleet of British colonists in Sydney on January 26, 1788.

Many Aborigines call it Invasion Day because the land was settled without a treaty with traditional owners.

Miss Gillard was unharmed and hosted another Australia Day function at her official residence in Canberra after the incident.

Read more: Julia Gillard rescued from Australia Day Aboriginal protesters as she's dragged to safety | Mail Online

[arapahoepark]

I saw that, quite scary it would be to be in that situation. And at first she's like oh everything will be fine...how quickly things change.

[Hannah]

The Aboriginal Embassy is bascially an "Occupy the Australian Capital". They have been there for years now. A few Prime Ministers have tried to satisfy these protestors over the years but basically they are there for two reasons. The first is they believe they are the original owners of Australia and have the right to take whatever land they want and second they want all of us to leave.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who was before PM Gillard actually gave a National Apology to the Indigenious People of Australia (Aborginies) at the start of his term in the hope of healing many wounds. There were also many new programs and other services employed to give Aborigines the best chance in life. There is nothing more that can be done for them. It is up to the older generation to encourage their kids to go to school and to got into training programs to learn various skills so they can help themselves.

The Aboriginies have various lands or reserves that are in their hands. Some manage their land well and others have of course just sold off their land for various uses to Foreign Owned Businesses.

Those Aboriginies that live in towns and cities have their own schools, medical facilities, training courses and special scholarships. Basically they have the opportunities available to them and no expense is spared. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. One of the biggest problems is getting Aboriginal parents to ensure their children go to school. The Government has tried every incentive scheme they can think of to try and get Aboriginal kids into education opportunities they provide.

Some Aboriginies have taken the opportunity and have returned with their Teaching skills and qualifications back to their home towns or to other Aboriginal communties. We can only hope that having teachers from their own background might be helpful.

However there is a small group of Aborigines doing an occupy Canberra instead. What has it done for them so far? Not much.

You can occupy Canberra until the cows come home but people from the Aboriginal communities need to step up to get educated and bring those skills back to their own people to encourage others to do so as well.

So far every year it has been the same thing. On Australia Day they have always caused some sort of trouble because those who sit at the Embassy call Australia Day - Occupation Day. They feel we have stolen Australia from them and basically they want it back. They have recieved a National Apology, they have been assisted and they have various reserves and other land that is exculsively Aboriginal territory. Those displaced Aboriginies in towns and cities cannot go back to these reserves because the Aborigines there speak a dialect that belongs to their ancestors tribes.

These Aborigines really cannot speak for all Aborigines because there is not one Tribe but many Tribes and those who have remained in their Tribes and on their Tribal land are not about putting out the welcome mat to other Aborigines. Many don't even know who their Tribes where and only speak English. Basically there is no way for some to go back to an Aboriginal lifestyle.

In 40 years the Australian Government has constantly poured money and resources in trying to help the Aborigines help themselves. Some success here and there but 40 years on two of the biggest problems amongst Aborigines is their lack of education due to their children not attending schools provided (even special schools just for them) and the other is unfortunately alcoholism/drug abuse.

On one island the Aboriginal woman banned together and stopped alcohol being delivered to their island altogether it was the only way they could manage to keep their men sober and save their children.

These are problems continue that undermine their communities, families and of course their ability to take control of their future.

It is often sugar coated and swept under the carpet. I have lived with Aborigines for a while when I was a child in a farming community in the outback. My father was an alcoholic & would get so drunk he would be kicked out of the Pub, so he would buy booze at the bottleshop and go drinking with the Aborigines in the park. We often found him in the mornings with them asleep totally out of it. Not fun as a kid growing up being told to go get your father from the park. All those drunks most of them were Aborigines. Dad made friends with the Aboriginals in the local area. I grew up around them and many of them but like my father they couldn't stop drinking. It was sad to watch.

At University many years later it was a pleasure to be studying with a few Aboriginal students. Having lived in one of the students home town of Moree all those years ago we became good friends. My friend went on to marry and she had a successful legal career last time we saw each other. Some do get out of the cycle that seems to keep many of them out of work and without hope.

I understand these Aborigines think they are doing something for their own people. Getting back all of Australia is not the answer. Not going to happen in a pink fit. Indonesia has always mapped the top of Australia as belonging the them. Not joking Indonesia would take over the Northern parts of Australia in a hearbeat if they could. The Aborigines would not keep this land too many are ready to come and take it if they could. Most of of our nation has almost been bought up by China and Japan already.

Tony Abbott made one comment of them moving on, he wasn't being rude or dismissive or any of that (I saw live footage of the comment which was a reply to a reporter's question). Just what have their Tent City in Canberra achieved for all of the Aborigines around Australia? The government has not been slack they have tried and still do provide much for those Aborigines who want to take up some of the opportunities made available to them.

They are angry and frustrated all these years still nothing has changed for them and each Australia Day is for them a slap in the face. PM Gillard was not the one that made the comment but in the TV footage of the event they were chanting "shame Gillard shame" when they rushed at her and then they did the same to Tony Abbott when he came out "shame Abbott shame". It was calculated they did target the PM specifically. The leader may not have wanted the protesters to do that but they did.

Once again they have achieved nothing.

Honestly it has come to the point of saying anything negative about the Aborigines is not only Politically Incorrect you are immediately branded a racist. So saying anything as a Politician about Aborigines good or bad will always end them up in hot water.

[arapahoepark]

Sounds like what happened with the Native Americans back in the '70s.
It's too bad that we basically committed genocide to them, both NA and Aborigines but, that was awhile back and now there's reality after the fact where people are equal. Unfortunately, now they want everything handed to them since they think we owe them when we had nothing to do with what happened as of today.
Before anyone bashes me I am part Native American on both sides of my family.

[Rescued by the Cross]

I had viewed this story earlier and some of the photos and something kept nagging at me in terms of the photos. I pulled up some additional pictures as well as some video to look at the situation further.

What I think originally caused the picture to seem unusual was the lack of any real visible protesters in the rush of security to move the PM out. BBC had a video showing the protesters and it was a bit funny in that there were more press than protesters banging on the windows. The video also shows maybe one or two folks who are clearly aboriginal and then a few ladies and men who appear of european descent. In the video, they show the chaotic rush out of the building with the plastic shields, etc. and the most "resistance" they have around them seems to be the media with cameras.

My impressions may be wrong, but it really stuck me as unusual. If my impression is correct though, I am not sure if it would be simple overreaction or intentionally staged for some reason. I have no idea about the politics in Australia or what value making the situation appear worse would have, but the pictures and video still seem odd to me.

[Hannah]

This morning it was reported that someone stirred up the Aborigines with false information.

The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was told that the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had said it should be Closed Down. A blantant lie was told to stir them up. Actually Tony Abbott was vilified in the Newspapers this morning.

More than that the person who went to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy with the false story was a staff member of the PM. That staff member has been sacked.

Seems the current Prime Minister is now going to great lengths to discredit the Opposition rather than admit the failure of her own Government. The PM's party have even invested in a smear campaign (advertisements) a while back of the Opposition Leader but had to withdraw the planned advertisements because they could be sued for some of what was intimated in them was again completely false.

So they have stooped to using the Aboriginal Protestors to try and make Tony Abbott look bad. A new low in politics.

What this incident has done is incite further protesting and anger against the Government and specifically Tony Abbott.

The Opposition Party has now got an investigation going to confirm what has happened and they may take legal action.

So instead of running the country we have an incompetent PM and her party just trying to make the Opposition look bad. Nothing is getting done and the country is in a total mess.

I certainly am not saying the Opposition is any better. We have now gotten to a point in time where there are no longer any Politicians in Australia at all who know how to run anything. Our nation is going to ruin due to NO Leadership what-so-ever.

We are Sheep without a Shepherd and the wolves are ready to come and tear us apart. Meanwhile China has bought up so much of our prime farming land we will soon be starving. While our Politicians play the Blame Game.