A protest march on Saturday, led by Australian Aborigines, marked the first day of the G20 Summit hosted by the city of Brisbane. The meeting is being held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Brisbane.

Different media reports estimate the number of marchers from 500 to 2,000. The protesters met at Roma Street and marched from the Emma Miller Place to Musgrave Park. Over 100 independent legal observers joined the action to monitor police behavior.

Like Us on Facebook

The marchers were chanting "genocidal 20" and "resist, revive, decolonise," quoted ABC.

Besides the Aborigines, 100 former political prisoners in Tibet also held a rally in central Brisbane to challenge world leaders participating in the summit to support a move to end China's occupation of Tibet. They laid down on the street and pretended to be dead as they shouted "human rights in Tibet."

Although some of the marchers were breaching G20 regulations by bringing with them banned items such as gas masks, the cops were observed to be lenient towards them. Terry O'Gorman, leader of the legal observers and a civil libertarian, lauded police behavior which contrasted what happened in the past characterized by provocation and aggression.

"What I've seen of the police today has been the opposite. You've seen calmness, you've seen professionalism," AAP quotes O'Gorman who described the officers' behavior now as restrained and professional.

A search of the belongings of some marchers found gas masks inside the bags of two women protesters. While one of them was released with no charges filed and another was detained, both were not allowed to enter the G20 area.

Because of the mask ban which would cover the face of marchers, many protesters wore Guy Fawkes masks on the back of their heads. O'Gorman disagreed with the mask prohibition and said the policy must not be repeated in the future as it stifles "the full extent of political protests."

"I don't want to see G20 powers become the new norm - let's hope the G20 Act is for a stand-alone event," O'Gorman said, while hoping the police-protester interaction in Brisbane would serve as template for future G20 summits and which Aussie police would also adapt for the Commonwealth Games to be hosted by Gold Coast in 2018.

TagsBrisbane