Australian Rules club hit by 'heartbreaking' Indigenous mistreatment claims

Yahoo – AFP, September 21, 2022 

Australian Rules' chief executive said Wednesday it was "hard to find more serious allegations" after a top club was accused of separating Indigenous players from their families and pressuring one couple to have an abortion. 

In the latest racially tinged scandal to hit Australia's most popular spectator sport, Hawthorn Football Club said an internal investigation into how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players were treated had raised "disturbing" historical claims. 

The club did not go into detail, saying the matters were "confidential". 

But public broadcaster ABC reported harrowing accounts of young Indigenous players pressured to end contact with their families and focus on their sporting careers. 

The ABC said in a period about a decade ago, players were relocated away from family and pressed to change their mobile phone numbers. 

One allegation related to a prospective father who told the club he and his partner were expecting a child and was advised to terminate the pregnancy. 

"At face value it's hard to find more serious allegations," Australian Football League (AFL) chief Gillon McLachlan said. 

"There are so many people hurting today and have been hurting for a long time. As a game we will do everything to ensure the hurt you experienced is not a hurt experienced by others." 

McLachlan said an external panel of four independent, appropriately qualified people would conduct a separate investigation for the AFL. 

"We need to run a proper investigation to get to the bottom of it and this is important out of respect for those making the allegations and out of respect for those being accused," he said. 

Hawthorn, the 13-time premiership-winning side -- with the Latin motto translated as "let us be judged by our acts" -- are based in Melbourne. 

Allegations of separating Indigenous players from their families and forced estrangement are particularly sensitive in Australia. 

Until the 1970s, white-dominated Australian governments forcibly removed Aboriginal children from their parents in an attempt to eradicate Indigenous cultures. 

Indigenous AFL legend and former "Australian of the Year" Adam Goodes retired in 2015 after being subjected to months of racially motivated booing by spectators. 

In 2021, the president of top Australian Rules side Collingwood resigned after evidence of systemic racism at the club.

 Hawthorn chief Justin Reeve backed the AFL's independent investigation, calling the findings of their internal review "heartbreaking". 

Asked whether Hawthorn had a culture problem, Reeve replied: "I think Australia has a culture problem, historically, and I think like all of us, we focus on every day being better and building a great environment for our club. 

"I feel confident from the report as well that currently our players feel culturally safe," he added. 

"But like so many institutions, I think we have to face our history and our past and we have to act responsibly and we have to cooperate and move forward from that."

Four Moroccan women accuse French tycoon of sexual harassment

Yahoo – AFP, June 17, 2022 

Four women have pressed charges in Morocco against French insurance tycoon Jacques Bouthier, currently under arrest in Paris on charges of raping a minor, a rights group said Friday. 

Bouthier is accused of various acts of "people trafficking, sexual harassment and verbal and moral violence," between 2018 and this year, said Karima Salama, a lawyer from the Moroccan Association for the Rights of Victims (AMDV). 

"An enquiry has been opened and we have faith in the justice system," she said at a press conference in the northern port city of Tangiers, where the four alleged victims, aged from 26 to 28, had been employed by Bouthier's firm. 

Bouthier, 75 and one of France's richest men, is ex-CEO of insurance group Assu2000, later renamed Vilavi. 

Three of his Moroccan alleged victims told journalists on Friday about their experiences, using sanitary masks and dark glasses to hide their identities. 

"He asked to sleep with me and when I said no, he asked me to introduce him to a sister, a female cousin or a friend, saying he would give me a nice present in exchange," one said. 

The women said they had been sacked after refusing to "give in to harassment and blackmail" over their employment by Bouthier and other French and Moroccan executives. 

The women said they had faced repeated sexual harassment and intimidation as well as threats to their jobs, in a city where many struggle to find work. 

One said he had presented them to men working at the firm, telling them: 'If you bring in contracts, there will be beautiful Moroccan girls'. 

"Jacques Bouthier... believes that with his financial power he can get away with anything, in complete impunity," said AMDV chief Aicha Guellaa. 

Bouthier, was indicted on May 21 and arrested by Paris prosecutors after a preliminary investigation into accusations of people trafficking and rape of a minor. 

He is also being prosecuted for conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping in an organised gang and possession of child pornography.

Harvard creates $100 mn slavery reparation fund

Yahoo – AFP, April 26, 2022 

Harvard University has announced a $100 million fund to atone for its role
in slavery (AFP/Maddie Meyer) (Maddie Meyer)

America's prestigious Harvard University announced Tuesday it will commit $100 million to redress its role in slavery, as more US institutions move toward reparations for historical injustices. 

Harvard said it was putting the money into a fund to help tackle the educational and social gaps caused by the legacies of the slave trade and racism. 

The move follows a wide-ranging internal review of the university's role in slavery, the results of which were posted on its website. 

The 100-page report made several recommendations about how the money should be spent, including the improvement of educational opportunities for descendant communities, honoring enslaved people through memorials and research, and creating partnerships with Black colleges and universities. 

It also recommended identifying and supporting direct descendants of Black and Native American enslaved individuals who labored on Harvard's campus and who were enslaved by previous Harvard leaders. 

"Harvard benefited from and in some ways perpetuated practices that were profoundly immoral," Harvard president Lawrence Bacow wrote in a letter to students and staff posted on the institution's website. 

"Consequently, I believe we bear a moral responsibility to do what we can to address the persistent corrosive effects of those historical practices on individuals, on Harvard, and on our society," he added. 

Harvard was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1636. 

The report found that Harvard staff, including four presidents, enslaved more than 70 individuals until slavery was outlawed in the state in 1783. 

The report also found that the university "benefited from extensive financial ties to slavery," including donations from slave traders. 

It said that from the mid-19th century well into the 20th century Harvard presidents and prominent professors promoted race science and eugenics and "conducted abusive 'research,' including the photographing of enslaved and subjugated human beings." 

Harvard's announcement comes as US institutions grapple with how to make amends for their role in slavery. 

Last year, the leaders of the Jesuit conference of priests vowed to raise $100 million to benefit the descendants of slaves it once owned. 

In 2019, students at Georgetown University approved a fund that would benefit the descendants of slaves sold by the elite Jesuit school in the 1800s.

'Butcher' Putin 'cannot remain in power': Biden

Yahoo – AFP, Aurélia END, 26 March 2022 

US President Joe Biden, with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz (c) visiting Ukrainian
refugees in Warsaw on Saturday (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)

President Joe Biden on Saturday called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a "butcher" who "cannot remain in power" after meeting top Ukrainian ministers for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Within minutes of his comments during a visit to Warsaw, a White House official played down the remarks saying Biden "was not discussing Putin's power in Russia, or regime change". 

"The president's point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbours or the region," the official said. 

Biden compared Ukraine's resistance against Russia to the anti-Soviet "battle for freedom" and said the world must prepare for a "long fight ahead". 

"We stand with you," he told Ukrainians in a sweeping speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, which he began with the words of late Polish pope John Paul II: "Be not afraid." 

He said Russia had suffered a "strategic failure" in Ukraine and told ordinary Russians they were "not our enemy", urging them to blame Putin for the heavy sanctions imposed by the West. 

He also warned Russia not to move on an "inch" of NATO territory, reiterating the "sacred obligation" of collective defence for alliance members. 

"We will have a different future, a brighter future rooted in democracy and principle, hope and light. 

"For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power," he said, concluding his address. 

Russian missile fragment 

Biden earlier on Saturday met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who made a rare trip out of Ukraine in a possible sign of growing confidence in the fightback against Russian forces. 

The meeting took place at the Marriott Hotel in the city centre -- opposite a Warsaw train station where there has been a constant flow of Ukrainian refugees since the conflict started. 

Biden sat at a long white table between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, facing Kuleba and Reznikov, an AFP reporter saw. 

There were Ukrainian and US flags in the background. 

During the meeting Biden was flanked by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin (far right, facing) and sitting opposite Kuleba and
Reznikov (front 3rd right) (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)

Kuleba gave Biden the fragment of a Russian missile that struck a base in Yavoriv near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv close to the Polish border. 

"The invincible character of Ukrainians and Western ones, especially US ones, are the recipe for our victory," Kuleba said after the meeting. 

Kuleba said he had discussed new sanctions that could be imposed against Russia and how to ensure the current ones are properly implemented. 

Blinken and Austin "pledged continued support to meet Ukraine's humanitarian, security, and economic needs", State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. 

Biden last met Kuleba in Washington on February 22 -- two days before Russia launched its assault. 

Since then, Kuleba has also met Blinken in Poland, next to the border with Ukraine on March 5. 

'He's a butcher' 

The US leader later visited a refugee centre at the National Stadium in Warsaw where he met several refugees, including some from the city of Mariupol which has suffered the worst of Russia's assault. 

Asked by reporters what he thought of Putin's actions, Biden responded simply: "He's a butcher." 

"I remember what it's like when you have someone in a war zone and every morning you get up and you wonder, you are just wondering, you are praying you don't get that phone call," said Biden, whose son Beau served in Iraq before dying of a brain tumour. 

He also said he was "not sure" that Russia had changed its strategy in Ukraine after assertions by Russian officials that they were altering their war aims to concentrate on the eastern Donbas region. 

During his visit, Biden also told Polish President Andrzej Duda that NATO's collective defence was a "sacred commitment" for the US, adding: "You can count on that... For your freedom and ours." 

Duda told him that Poles felt a "great sense of threat" from the conflict in neighbouring Ukraine.

China mulls bill to tackle workplace discrimination against women

Yahoo – AFP, December 25, 2021

Assembly-line workers at a factory in Fuyang in eastern China (AFP/STR)

Chinese lawmakers are discussing new rules to prevent workplace discrimination and sexual harassment against women amid a string of high-profile cases in recent months. 

A draft bill published Friday includes a ban on employers stating gender preferences on job ads and quizzing female applicants about their marital or pregnancy status –- a common practice that has been criticised for decades. 

Rapid economic growth in the past four decades coupled with the one-child rule has opened up more educational and employment opportunities for Chinese women. 

But women's participation in the workforce has dropped, due to gender-based filtering when hiring and as more women care for families amid a severe shortage of affordable childcare options. 

A report by Human Rights Watch in June found that one in five civil service job postings in 2019 specified a preference for male applicants. 

The report also says that it was a common practice for employers including schools to force female staff to sign contracts promising not to get pregnant for several years as a pre-condition for being hired. 

The proposed new rules come amid concerns that China's new three-child rule could make employers even more reluctant to hire women and as officials crack down on the local #MeToo movement after a string of cases that led to a public outcry over sexual assault in the workplace. 

Earlier this month, e-commerce giant Alibaba group fired a female staffer who had accused a manager of sexual assault. 

The proposed amendments will make enforcement easier by clearly defining what sexual harassment is, state-run Xinhua news agency said. 

According to a draft text published Friday, it prohibits "vulgar speech", "inappropriate physical behaviour" or "the display or dissemination of sexual images, information, text, audio or video". 

It also requires employers to set up mechanisms to prevent, investigate and respond to such complaints "without delay", but there were no details on any penalties for failing to do so. 

The amendments are open for public comment until January 22, 2022.

Related Article:

US, UN demand proof of missing Chinese tennis star's well-being

Israel's parliament moves towards ban on gay 'conversion therapy'

France24 – AFP, 22 July 2020

Israel's health ministry has already branded conversion therapy as
hazardous to those subjected to it JACK GUEZ AFP/File

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's parliament took a step towards criminalising gay "conversion therapy" on Wednesday, giving preliminary approval to a bill banning the practice widely regarded as a human rights violation.

The bill, introduced by the head of the left-wing Meretz party, opposition lawmaker Nitzan Horowitz, was approved by Israel's parliament, the Knesset, in a vote of 42 to 36.

The bill must pass through two more Knesset readings before becoming law and could be ultimately blocked by members of the centre-right governing coalition, possibly on grounds that it originated from the opposition.

Horowitz described the vote as an "historic moment".

His proposal targets psychologists who administer conversion therapy, withdrawing their licenses for a period of at least five years.

Following Wednesday's vote, ultra-Orthodox leader Yaakov Litzman, who is housing minister in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, condemned as "rotten" coalition partners who supported the bill.

Earlier this month, the United Nations independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, called for a global conversion therapy ban.

In his report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Madrigal-Borloz offered evidence that conversion therapy involved beatings, rape, electrocution, forced medication, confinement, forced nudity, verbal humiliation and other acts of physical, psychological and sexual abuse.

Israel's health ministry has already branded conversion therapy as hazardous to those subjected to it.

Or Keshet of the Israeli rights group AGUDA said the practice persists in Israel, "mainly in religious circles," where homosexuality remains taboo.

"It is estimated that several thousand people have undergone conversion therapy in Israel," Keshet told AFP.

Last year, far-right lawmaker Rafi Peretz, who was education minister at the time, voiced support for conversion therapy, triggering an outcry.

Netanyahu called Peretz's comments "unacceptable".

In March 2018, the European parliament passed a resolution condemning conversion therapy and urging member states to ban it.

In March this year, the Canadian government announced a bill to outlaw the practice.

Related Articles:

White House calls for end to psychiatric therapies seeking to change sexual orientation

'Praying the gay away': Trauma survivors crusade to ban conversion therapy

China court raps clinic over 'gay conversion' therapy

China court hears first gay 'conversion therapy' case

Gay Pride & Gay Rights in China: a Dutch Perspective (Liveblog)

Gay conversion therapy should have no place in NHS, says health minister

‘Pray away the gay’ therapies quickly losing ground in the United States

‘Gay cure’ no longer reimbursed: Dutch health minister

(Photo: Alexandria)

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

Belgian 'regret' for Congo past stirs bittersweet response

Yahoo – AFP, June 30, 2020

King Leopold II pillaged DR Congo and treated the colony as his personal
property (AFP Photo/SAMIR TOUNSI)

Kinshasa (AFP) - DR Congo hailed Belgium on Tuesday after its monarch, King Philippe, voiced his "deepest regrets" for the country's brutal colonial occupation, but some in the country demanded reparations for the past.

In a letter to President Felix Tshisekedi on the nation's 60th anniversary of independence, Philippe expressed unprecedented sorrow for colonial acts that historians say led to the death of millions of Congolese.

"I want to express my deepest regrets for these wounds of the past whose pain is reawakened today by the discrimination still present in our societies," Philippe said.

"Acts of violence and cruelty were committed which weigh on our collective memory," he said.

DR Congo Foreign Minister Marie Ntumba Nzeza, in statement to AFP, said the king's letter was "balm to the heart of the Congolese people. This is a step forward that will boost friendly relations between our nations."

Tshisekedi, in a TV address on the eve of the anniversary, paid tribute to Belgium, where he lived in self-imposed exile before returning to run successfully in the 2018 elections.

Philippe, he said, "is searching, just like me, to strengthen the ties between our two countries, without denying our common past, but with the goal of preparing a bright and harmonious future."

In contrast, Lambert Mende, the former spokesman of Tshisekedi's predecessor, Joseph Kabila, said, "It's not enough to say, 'I feel regret.'

"People should be willing to repair the damage in terms of investment and compensation with interest. That's what we expect from our Belgian partners."

Herve Diakiese, spokesman of a citizen's movement called Congolais Debout (Congolese, Stand Up), said the monarch's letter was "a step in the right direction."

"But this belated remorse can only be accepted after adequate reparations for these atrocities which enabled the personal enrichment of Leopold II and his friends," he said, referring to the former Belgian monarch who pillaged Congo from 1885 to 1908.

"Belgium's mischief-making after independence on June 30 1960 to control the DRC's minerals should also feature among reparation issues," he said.

Looted Congolese artefacts, too, should be returned, he added.

Jean-Claude Katende, the president of Asadho, one of the oldest rights groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo, called for a greater effort to identify provinces where colonial Belgium carried out its worst atrocities.

"In Equateur (province), people were killed and others had their hands cut off," he said.

Belgium is contemplating setting up a parliamentary commission to investigate its colonial rule, which also extended over Rwanda and Burundi.

Pompeo says UN vote on race, policing in US is 'hypocrisy'

Yahoo – AFP,June 20, 2020

US top diplomat Mike Pompeo defended recent discussion on race relations in
America as a sign of a healthy democracy; he is pictured April 8, 2020
(AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday a UN Human Rights Council vote condemning racism amounted to hypocrisy.

Pompeo defended the recent discussion on race relations in America as a sign of a healthy democracy, and said the council should focus on what he called systemic racial disparities in member countries such as Cuba and China.

"The council's decision to vote yesterday on a resolution focusing on policing and race in the US marks a new low," Pompeo said in a statement.

The council took the vote after a debate prompted by protests in the US triggered by the death at police hands of African American George Floyd.

However, a specific mention of racism and police brutality in the US was removed.

This sparked outrage from rights groups, which accused Washington and its allies of lobbying heavily to revise the text -- a charge to which the US mission in Geneva declined to respond.

The United States, which had complained of being singled out in the initial text, withdrew from the council in 2018 and was not present on Friday.

In his statement Saturday, titled "On the Hypocrisy of UN Human Rights Council," Pompeo said discussion in the US about race following the death of Floyd "is a sign of our democracy’s strength and maturity."

"If the Council were serious about protecting human rights, there are plenty of legitimate needs for its attention, such as the systemic racial disparities in places like Cuba, China and Iran," he said.

"If the Council were honest, it would recognize the strengths of American democracy and urge authoritarian regimes around the world to model American democracy and to hold their nations to the same high standards of accountability and transparency that we Americans apply to ourselves," Pompeo added.

Europeans join global wave of anti-racism protests

Yahoo – AFP, by Patrick Rahir with Alexandria Sage in Rome, 7 June 2020

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Madrid

Calling for racial justice, protesters rallied across Europe Sunday, joining a wave of demonstrations sparked by the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of US police.

A video of the incident with Floyd pleading for his life in Minneapolis as a white police officer knelt on his neck has sparked angry protests worldwide, even as countries continue to discourage large gatherings to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Several thousand people massed outside the US embassy in Madrid, shouting "I cannot breathe", Floyd's last words, and demanding justice.

"Racism knows no borders," said Leinisa Seemdo, a 26-year-old Spanish translator from Cape Verde. "In all the countries where I have lived, I have experienced discrimination because of the colour of my skin."

Main protests over the death of George Floyd in selected cities worldwide, as of June 7

Rome's Piazza del Popolo ("People's Plaza") fell silent for eight minutes -- roughly the time Floyd was pinned down by the policeman -- with thousands of people taking a knee in memory of Floyd, their fists in the air.

"We can't breathe," shouted the crowd, after the collective silence.

"It's really hard to live here," said Senegalese migrant Morikeba Samate, 32, one of the thousands to have arrived in Italy after risking the perilous crossing across the Mediterranean.

Opposition to that wave of migration buoyed the far-right in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.

Floyd's death last month has unleashed the most serious and widespread civil unrest in the United States since Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.

Protesters raised their fists and held eight minutes' silence in a protest in Rome

The police officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder while three fellow officers face lesser charges.

'No Justice, No Peace'

More than 1,000 people on Sunday also gathered at a Black Lives Matter protest near the US embassy in Budapest.

"We have come together to stand up against racism," Hungarian reggae singer G Ras told cheering protesters. "If we want to live in a better world, we need to radically change the way we live."

Almost 4,000 attended two similar events in the Netherlands.

Protesters carried placards and plays drums during a rally in solidarity with 

the "Black Lives Matter" movement in Rome

Another rally took place in London on Sunday despite a coronavirus ban against large gatherings, following scuffles Saturday during an otherwise peaceful protest.

In Bristol, a city linked to the slave trade, the statue of trader Edward Colston was torn down Sunday and thrown into the harbour.

In Lausanne, Switzerland, a black-clad demonstrator's placard read "my colour is not a threat", while almost 10,000 people marched in Brussels, police said.

"The murder of George Floyd had clearly woken up a lot of people," commented Ange Kaze of the Belgian Network for Black Lives.

As well as Rome, other demonstrations were planned during the day in Copenhagen, 

Brussels, Glasgow and London

A few skirmishes broke out at the end of the Brussels rally, but a demonstration by 15,000 in Copenhagen ended peacefully.

Fighting was also reported however at the end of a protest in Goteborg, Sweden, were almost 2,000 people turned out for a march authorised for just 50 owing to coronavirus restrictions.

As countries begin to emerge from lockdowns, governments are struggling to balance people's need to express anger against the risk of protests spreading a disease that has killed nearly 400,000 worldwide.

Demonstrators have rallied in Australia in support of the US protests

In France, more than 23,000 people demonstrated on Saturday, and football players from a half dozen German teams knelt over the weekend in Floyd's memory.

His death occured during a pandemic that has disproportionately affected black people and ethnic minorities in mega cities such as London, New York and Rio de Janeiro.

The historic economic recession triggered by virus lockdowns has hammered the poor and marginalised even more.

A combination of economic woes, social tensions and anger at US President Donald Trump's response has refocused attention on racial divides like few other events since the 1960s.

Calling for racial justice, protesters rallied across Europe Sunday, joining a wave
of demonstrations sparked by the death of African American George Floyd at the
hands of US police

Thousands of protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Madrid

Main protests over the death of George Floyd in selected cities worldwide, as of June 7

Protesters raised their fists and held eight minutes' silence in a protest in Rome

Protesters carried placards and plays drums during a rally in solidarity with the "Black Lives Matter" movement in Rome

As well as Rome, other demonstrations were planned during the day in Copenhagen, Brussels, Glasgow and London

Demonstrators have rallied in Australia in support of the US protests.

Defiant Australians protest racial injustice despite warnings

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew LEESON, June 6, 2020

Marchers defied government warnings about coronavirus to rally in Sydney
(AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

Tens of thousands of Australians defied government calls to stay at home Saturday by spilling onto the streets for Black Lives Matter protests in major towns and cities across the country.

Marchers in Sydney, Melbourne and elsewhere rejected arguments from law enforcement and conservative leaders that mass protests could fuel the spread of coronavirus.

A court on Friday declared the Sydney protest illegal on health grounds, although the ruling was overturned by an appeals court minutes before the march was due to start.

"The fact that they have tried to push us all back and stop the protest, it makes people want to do it even more," said Jumikah Donovan, one of thousands who turned up thinking the ban was still in place.

The Sydney march of at least 20,000 was largely peaceful but as night fell a smaller group of a few hundred protesters faced-off with police over two hours.

Protesters were also out in force in Brisbane (AFP Photo/Patrick HAMILTON)

A large number of police eventually forced them into a nearby railway station where a tense stand-off ended with police using pepper spray on the crowd.

Police confirmed only three arrests during the rally.

Demonstrators brandished signs that read "I can't breathe", a nod to the last words of African-American man George Floyd, whose death while being arrested has sparked civil rights protests around the world.

Another read: "Same story, different soil."

The movement has resonated strongly with many in Australia -- a country also wrestling with the legacy of a racist past.

Organisers said they hoped to draw attention to high imprisonment rates among Aboriginal Australians and the large number of deaths in custody of indigenous people -- more than 400 in the last three decades.

Many protesters wore face masks, brought hand sanitiser and tried to social 

distance (AFP Photo/Patrick HAMILTON)

No prosecutions have been brought despite dozens of investigations, inquests and in some cases video evidence of abuse.

'Voice for change'

Many of the protesters wore face masks, brought hand sanitiser and tried to social distance as best they could.

"There are things in the world that need to be addressed," said Fay Goli. "If a majority can stand together there will be a stronger voice for change."

Australia has seen a sustained drop in the number of COVID-19 cases, but social distancing rules remain in force and mass gatherings are not permitted.

"Police are prepared for anybody that wants to just flout the law," New South Wales Police Minister David Elliott told media before the rallies.

(AFP Photo/Andrew LEESON)

Protesters in Melbourne were warned they could face fines for attending a rally if social distancing was not observed, although police appeared not to be enforcing those rules.

The day before the protests Prime Minister Scott Morrison had urged people to stay home.

"Let's find a better way and another way to express these sentiments rather than putting your own health at risk," Morrison said.

He admitted there was more to be done to address indigenous inequality, but rejected parallels with the United States.

"Let's deal with this as Australians and not appropriate what's happening in other countries to our country at this time," he said.