logo

Not my King, Australian senator shouts at Charles

Tuesday, 22 October 2024


CANBERRA, Oct 21 (BBC): King Charles faced shouts of "you are not my King" from an independent senator just after he finished an address at Australia's Parliament House on the second official day of his engagements in the country.
Lidia Thorpe, an Aboriginal Australian woman, interrupted the ceremony in the capital city of Canberra by shouting for about a minute before she was escorted away by security.
After making claims of genocide against "our people", she could be heard yelling: "This is not your land, you are not my King."
But Aboriginal elder Aunty Violet Sheridan, who had earlier welcomed the King and Queen, said Thorpe's protest was "disrespectful", adding: "She does not speak for me."
The ceremony concluded without any reference to the incident, and the royal couple proceeded to meet hundreds of people who had waited outside to greet them.
Australia is a Commonwealth country where the King serves as the head of state, but recently there has been debate about removing the monarch from the role.