Thousands demand end to Indigenous deaths in custody in Australia

Tens of thousands of people marched through Australian cities and towns for Black Lives Matter protests on Saturday, defying an attempt from the police to ban one demonstration through the courts and despite pleas from the prime minister and state leaders for people to stay home.

In the most dramatic turn of events, a massive crowd in Sydney learned just as they were gathering outside the city’s Town Hall that the New South Wales court of appeal had ruled their rally was now lawful, overturning a court decision handed down late on Friday.

At least 20,000 attended the Sydney march which passed off peacefully. However there were some ugly scenes when police officers used pepper spray on protesters who had flowed into Central station after the rally finished.

Some protestors were visibly hurt by the spray, with eyes streaming, and there were accusations that the remaining crowd had been forced together into a small space in the station and unable to move.

\In Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and smaller cities and towns across the country mask-clad protesters gathered, drawing attention to racial profiling, police brutality and the more than 400 Indigenous people who have died in police custody since a royal commission into the problem was held in 1991. _The Guardian



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