Black Lives Matter Protest Organizer Paddy Gibson Arrested in Sydney

(AP) Australian police arrested a leader of an anti-racism protest and shut down the demonstration before it started Tuesday after courts ruled the gathering in downtown Sydney was illegal due to the coronavirus pandemic threat.

Organizer Paddy Gibson was among six people arrested in a park known as The Domain before the rally was due to start at noon.

Two police officers led a defiant Gibson away.

Police outnumbered protesters. Officers told demonstrators to move on as they arrived and the area was cleared 15 minutes before the scheduled start.

New South Wales state Assistant Police Commissioner Mick Willing said five protesters were issued 1,000 Australian dollar ($710) fines for breaching pandemic crowd restrictions.

The rally attracted far fewer than the 5,000 who had registered online to attend. Willing estimated that only "a few hundred" demonstrators turned up.

Outdoor gatherings in New South Wales are limited to 20 people due to the pandemic.

Gibson had organized the demonstration with the family of David Dungay, an Indigenous man who died in 2015 while being restrained in a Sydney prison after repeatedly saying, "I can't breathe."

The demonstrators have gathered more than 100,000 signatures on a petition calling for his prison guards to be charged.


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