Protesters confront Howard
BY DANI BARLEY
SYDNEY — More than 300 people gathered in Faulconbridge, in the Blue Mountains, on April 7 to protest against Prime Minister John Howard's racist government.
The protesters were high school students from throughout the Blue Mountains area, Dharug and Gundugarra Aboriginal peoples, and activists from the Sorry Day Committee, Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation, and Linkup.
Howard was attending an official tree-planting ceremony in the Corridor of Oaks, in celebration of his time as prime minister. The protest began slowly, but gained momentum once Howard arrived to the shouts of "shame" from the crowd. Howard hid behind a group of primary school students.
There were a handful of speakers, including representatives from the local Dharug Aboriginal people. Nooses were hung from the surrounding trees representing Aboriginal deaths in custody, while a sea of homemade banners decorated the crowd.
Police kept potential protesters far away from the official ceremony, unless they were respectably dressed adults taking pictures (teenage photographers were immediately told to return to the other side of the barricade).
Police thoroughly checked tickets at the local train station in an effort to discourage the teenage attendees at the protest. One middle-aged protester was arrested for assault after attempting to kiss a police officer. Another planted a wattle tree with a sign on it that said, "Official Tree Planting: Sorry to the Aboriginal Community".
A demonstrator dressed in a suit managed to be seated at the official ceremony and was able to hold up a placard stating, "I am ashamed of my Prime Minister".
Once Howard had planted his tree, he left to have lunch at a local restaurant. More than 100 angry high school students charged after him. They were confined to a small corner of the parking lot by police. The students wanted Howard to come out and hear their demands, but their voices fell on deaf ears.
One protester was arrested for using "abusive language". His peers immediately began chanting "Free speech!".
"The action gained momentum very quickly amongst high school students, proving that many young people are extremely angry about the government's racist policies and are keen to take action. The protest was largely built by high school students who took leaflets and posters t publicise it during the week and brought their friends along", western Sydney Resistance organiser Kylie Moon told Green Left Weekly.
The buzz amongst the crowd was that Blue Mountains high school students were going to walk out again on April 14 to attend a rally in Sydney.