MADRID 21 Oct. () –
Australia’s indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe has interrupted King Charles III’s visit to the Australian Parliament shouting “You are not my king” and accused him of sharing responsibility for the alleged “genocide” committed against Aboriginal peoples.
“You committed genocide against our people. Give us back our lands, give us what you stole from us, our bones, our skulls, our babies,” the senator denounced. Thorpe, an indigenous woman from the communities of Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung, has waited for the British monarch to finish his speech in the Parliament of the oceanic country to ask the king to give them “a treaty” with the indigenous peoples.
Later, after being escorted out of the room, the senator said that the king’s visit “should be an occasion to tell the truth about the true history of this country,” according to local media.
“The leader of the Krauatungalung, Robbie Thorpe, has issued this notice to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on October 13 of this year, requesting that King Charles III be charged and prosecuted for genocide,” he denounced.
Thorpe added that “the colonial State has been built on the continuous genocide of indigenous peoples. “Today I was silenced and removed from the parliamentary reception when I pointed out that the Crown stole from indigenous peoples,” he asserted.
At his inauguration as a congressman in August 2022, Thorpe had to repeat his oath as he referred to Queen Elizabeth II as a “colonizer.” The senator confronted her Labor counterpart for his criticism and published on the social network X that she has “never” given up sovereignty. His intention then was to “question the illegitimate occupation of the colonial system.”
Aboriginal communities in Australia, such as those of Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung, have fought over the years for the recognition of their territorial and cultural rights, and have denounced the impact of the British colonial appropriation of their lands.
The British monarch, 75, was crowned king on May 6, 2023 after succeeding his mother Elizabeth II, who spent 70 years on the throne.
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