DAILYMAIL
Firebrand Indigenous politician Lidia Thorpe has interrupted King Charles‘ address at Parliament House with a foul-mouthed rant, after he finished his speech praising Australia.
Senator Thorpe screamed out ‘f**k the colony’ and ‘you are not my king’, while wrapped in a native fur coat.
‘You committed genocide against our people,’ she shouted. ‘Give us our land back.
‘Give us what you stole from us. Our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land.
‘Give us our treaties. We want a treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist. This is not your land, this is not your land.’
Senator Thorpe then repeatedly yelled, ‘Not my king,’ as she was led out of the room by security.
Lidia Thorpe, a senator in the Upper House, has launched a verbal attack towards the King and Queen over indigenous rights during the visit. Local reporters tell me she is well known for staging such protests within Parliament #RoyalVisitAustralia pic.twitter.com/wvz5OI5Rum
— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) October 21, 2024
Before her outburst, she had turned her back as the Australian anthem was played.
Earlier in the day, Senator Thorpe appeared close to being arrested while protesting the visit of the King and Queen Camilla to Canberra.
A confrontation with police took place at an Indigenous protest outside the Australian War Memorial.
A group of some two dozen Indigenous protesters positioned themselves outside the Memorial, chanting ‘always was, always will be Aboriginal land’.
The group was well away from where the King and Queen appeared.
Senator Thorpe was seen arguing with a police officer who held onto her shirt. She then pulled her shirt off and stormed away from the cop.
‘Everything that we suffer in this country is because of that colonial invasion,’ Senator Thorpe said after the tussle.
Despite the outburst, King Charles and Queen Camilla received the warmest of welcomes on their first full day of engagements in Australia – from the sun that finally came out, to the crowds on the streets.
Handed armfuls of flowers, toy koalas and even some kangaroo jerky, the couple were repeatedly thanked for making the long journey over, particularly in light of His Majesty’s on-going cancer treatment.
Arriving at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney in the morning the royal duo, who enjoyed a down day yesterday after their gruelling flight, were met with loud cheers from the hundreds of well-wishers, drowning out a handful of protestors with a ‘decolonise’ banner calling for indigenous rights and waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags.
A handful of locals shouted ‘get lost’ and ‘get a life’ in frustration, while one man told them: ‘Be thankful you live in a free society where you can argue across the street.’
Fans waiting inside the church grounds – including dozens of Sunday school children – were thrilled to shake hands with the King and Queen, while others described the ongoing republican debate as a ‘bore’.
Afterwards one child delightedly shouted ‘I touched the King!’ ‘It was so good, he was so kind,’ said another little girl.
