Lidia Thorpe: Australian police investigate senator’s conduct after he was dragged to the ground
After a senator was allegedly shoved to the ground during a demonstration outside of parliament in Canberra, Australian police launched an investigation.
At an event outside the building, British campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull was being confronted by senator Lidia Thorpe.
Ms. Thorpe was seen on camera walking toward Ms. Keen-Minshull before she seemed to be brought to the ground by officers.
The police say an investigation is being conducted by their professional standards unit.
A tiny group of supporters attended Ms. Keen-Minshull’s “Let Women Speak” demonstration. She sees herself as a women’s rights activist but is also well known for her opposition to transgender rights. Pro-LGBT activists had staged a larger counter-protest in response to it.
You’re not welcome here, Ms. Thorpe shouted as she approached the microphone area. She was then shoved back by a man in a suit, and it appeared that cops then hauled her to the ground.
Ms. Thorpe cried “let me go” as police tried to help her stand up, then she broke free, crawled across the soggy grass, stood up, and walked away.
After the confrontation, Ms. Thorpe, an Indigenous Australian, told reporters, “We do not tolerate this kind of filth being on Ngunnawal-Ngarigo country.” She was alluding to the presence of Ms. Keen-Minshull’s party on Aboriginal land.
“They are prejudiced. They hate homosexuals. People’s life are being destroyed by them. The fact that our country ever allowed individuals like them to enter the country should make it embarrassed.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney called the incident “disturbing and concerning” after Ms. Thorpe later claimed to have been “pulverized” by police in an interview with the Guardian.
“My worry was and is for Lidia… She told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “I think it is very right that it has been brought to the professional standards unit.
Police said in a statement that “interactions” with demonstrators at the event will be examined and that no other comments would be made while the inquiry was ongoing.
Following a neo-Nazi group’s apparent support, which appeared outside Victoria’s state legislature last weekend, Ms. Keen-Minshull’s demonstration in Melbourne provoked uproar.
She has denied any affiliation with the organisation and called them “sad and pathetic” in an interview with The Australian newspaper.
Senators Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts of the right-wing populist One Nation Party attended her Canberra rally, but no representatives from either major party were there.
When the Indigenous Voice to Parliament—which Lidia Thorpe opposes in favor of the “Black Sovereignty” movement—was supported by the Green Party, she withdrew from the party and was elected to parliament as a member of the Greens last year.
She claimed earlier this month that while she was a member of the Green Party, she had experienced sexual harassment and assault at Canberra’s Parliament House.
Ms. Thorpe has organized attention-grabbing demonstrations, such as lying down in front of a float at Sydney’s Gay Pride march this year to protest police participation.
She was also forced to recite her oath of office in 2022 after referring to the late Queen of Australia as a “colonizer”