Australian Capital Territory •
Canberra: 2,000 protesters in the capital city marched to
Parliament House on Friday 5 June.
New South Wales Protests occurred across the state, Australia's largest, to show solidarity with American protesters and to highlight
the high rate of death among incarcerated Indigenous Australians. The protests were preempted by an incident wherein a 16-year-old Indigenous boy was kicked and pinned to the ground by a
New South Wales Police Force officer in
Surry Hills. Protests in this state were in violation of the state's Public Health (
COVID-19 Restrictions on Gathering and Movement) Order at the time, which banned gatherings of more than ten people outdoors for a common purpose without a reasonable excuse or exemption.
Sydney Three major protests were held in
Sydney. The first was held on Tuesday 2 June, where 3,000 protesters peacefully marched from
Hyde Park to
Parliament and
Martin Place. The second and largest protest was held on Saturday 6 June, where at least 10,000 protesters gathered at
Sydney Town Hall and marched to
Belmore Park. The crowd chanted "
I can't breathe" and held a
moment of silence for George Floyd. A
counter-protester, who interrupted the protest by holding up an "
All Lives Matter" sign, was handcuffed and removed from the protest by police. and Acting Police Commissioner
Mal Lanyon later defended this action as an appropriate use of force. The protest caused significant controversy.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian originally stated that she believed people had a right to protest, but later
backflipped and deemed the protest "illegal" and in violation of the state's public health orders. Following this, the protest was subject to a successful legal challenge in the
Supreme Court from the Commissioner of the
New South Wales Police Force on the basis of health reasons. That decision was overturned on appeal by the
New South Wales Court of Appeal just minutes before the protest began. The Court of Appeal – constituted of
Chief Justice Bathurst,
President Bell and
Justice Leeming – overturned the decision of Justice Fagan on the basis that the protest organisers had complied with the necessary steps in order to gain approval to hold the protest in an authorised way. A third protest was held on the evening of 12 June in solidarity with protesters at Sydney's
Long Bay Correctional Centre, where
Corrective Services officers fired
tear gas on inmates who spelled out "BLM" on the prison yard. Approximately 300 protesters met in
Hyde Park because of a significant police presence at Sydney Town Hall, the original location for the protest.
Mounted police and officers guarded a large statue of
James Cook located in Hyde Park on the night, which was later defaced. A police officer was filmed making an
OK gesture toward protesters, a gesture which has been co-opted by the
white power movement. The Police Force denied that the officer used the gesture in an offensive way.
Rest of New South Wales •
Byron Bay: 5,000 gathered at Apex Park and knelt for
8 minutes and 45 seconds in memory of George Floyd on 6 June. •
Coffs Harbour: A protest on 6 June attracted hundreds. •
Katoomba: 200 protesters gathered at the council seat of the
Blue Mountains on 6 June and held a
smoking ceremony. •
Lismore: 1000 protesters marched from Spinks Park to the Lismore police station on 6 June. The protest, held on Saturday 6 June, was one of the largest rallies the city has ever seen. •
Wyong: An estimated 500 protesters marched through the town's central business district to the Wyong Court House. • Protests were also held in
Port Macquarie,
Wagga Wagga (led by
Aunty Isabel Reid) and
Wollongong.
Northern Territory •
Alice Springs: 500 protesters gathered at the town's courthouse. •
Darwin: 1000 protesters gathered at Civic Park and marched through the central business district on 14 June, in a protest organised by members of the
Larrakia people, who are the
traditional owners of the Darwin area. The protest was granted an exemption from the Territory's coronavirus health orders, which restrict outdoor gatherings of more than 500 people. Earlier, on 3 June, a candlelight vigil was held in
Musgrave Park attended by 40 to 50 people. They lighted 432 candles to represent
432 known Aboriginal deaths in custody, and a 433rd candle for Floyd. •
Townsville: 1000 protesters rallied at
The Strand.
South Australia •
Adelaide: At least 6,000 protesters gathered in
Victoria Square on Saturday 6 June and marched along
King William Street after the
South Australia Police Commissioner gave protesters an exemption from lockdown restrictions. A second protest had been planned for the following Saturday, but police disallowed this. The protest was titled "Solidarity with Minneapolis" by the organisers, and speakers included several
African Australian and Aboriginal speakers, who mostly focussed on Australia's history of violence and racism and towards black people. Among those who addressed the crowd were actor
Natasha Wanganeen;
Kaurna culture and
language educator and 2011 SA
Young Australian of the Year,
Jack Buckskin;
South Sudanese musician
Gabriel Akon (known as DyspOra); several
elders, including 76-year-old Kaurna and
Narungga elder Yvonne Agius and Aunty Joan Lemont; and also relatives of deceased victims.
Tasmania •
Hobart: About 3000 people gathered on the lawns in front of
Parliament House in solidarity with the international George Floyd protests. Hand sanitiser and masks were made available, and entry to the lawns was restricted at times to keep the crowd at an acceptable size. Protesters stood for
8′46″ of silence. Speakers also covered issues
Aboriginal Tasmanians face, such as Indigenous children being
strip searched by police. •
Melbourne: An estimated 7,000 protesters gathered at
Parliament House and marched to
Flinders Street railway station on Saturday 6 June 2020. The organisers of the protest, the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance, were each fined A$1651 for organising a mass gathering in violation of the Victorian Chief Health Officer's coronavirus directives, Several days later, Victoria's Chief Health Officer revealed that one of the protesters had since been confirmed as
COVID positive, though suggested they would have likely contracted COVID-19 before the protest (and may have been asymptomatic during it)
Western Australia •
Perth: Up to 2,000 protesters rallied at
Forrest Place in the
central business district (CBD) on 1 June 2020. ==Notes==