Thorpe said in harsh words that she repeated for about a minute after a speech during a reception held at Parliament House in Canberra, “Give us back our land! Give us what you stole from us!”
She added, “This is not your land, and you do not belong to me,” criticizing what she described as “genocide” of indigenous people at the hands of European colonialists.
BREAKING:
The end of King Charles speech has been interrupted by a protest from an indigenous campaigner.
Senator Lidia Thorpe shouted at the stage “you are not our King”, “this is not your land”.
She demanded the King apologise for British atrocities in Australia pic.twitter.com/ZytV8X9OC9— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) October 21, 2024
Australia was a British colony for about 100 years, during which thousands of indigenous people were killed and entire communities were displaced. The country became independent in 1901, without turning into a republic. The King of Britain is still head of state in Australia.
The reception held for Charles III and Queen Camilla in Parliament is a stop on a nine-day tour of Australia and Samoa, his first outside Britain since he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.
Thorpe is known for her fiery speeches and anti-monarchy stances.
WATCH: The King and Queen look on as Aboriginal Australian senator Lidia Thorpe shouts “You are not my King, you committed genocide against my people. “You destroyed our lands, this is not your land.”
The senator was criticised in 2022 was calling Queen Elizabeth II a coloniser pic.twitter.com/UZdGd3P1S9— Russell Myers (@rjmyers) October 21, 2024
When she was sworn in in 2022, Thorpe blatantly criticized Elizabeth II, Charles’s late mother, who was Queen of the United Kingdom at the time. That day, Thorpe swore to faithfully serve “Her Majesty the Colonial Queen Elizabeth II.”
Senate President Sue Lines at the time had to turn to Thorpe and say, “Senator Thorpe, Senator Thorpe, you must take the oath as it is written on the paper.”
In 1991, Australians voted narrowly in favor of not removing the Queen as head of state, in light of disagreements over whether choosing her replacement would return to parliament or direct balloting.
In 2023, Australians voted by a large majority against measures to recognize Indigenous people in the Constitution and establish an Indigenous Advisory Council.
Source: swiss info + RT
