Marchers participating in a pro-refugee float at the weekend’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras were threatened with expulsion and moved back in the parade after causing a ruckus behind a Bill Shorten press conference.
In an apparent planning mishap, the No Pride in Detention crew were placed directly behind the ‘Rainbow Labor’ group in the 178 float parade, leaving protesters opposed to Labor’s policies of offshore detention and processing of asylum seekers just metres from the party’s leader.
When Shorten and Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek fronted the media the No Pride marchers saw their opportunity, packing in behind the pair with placards while chanting: “We’re here, were queer, refugees are welcome here.” A number trailed Shorten as he returned to the Rainbow Labor float.
No Pride in Detention crew are tailing Shorten and Plibersek as they leave their press conference #MardiGras pic.twitter.com/QzlFoVkrZa
— Paul Karp (@Paul_Karp) March 5, 2016
In what one participant described as the ‘absurd spectacle’ that followed, the No Pride float leaders were castigated by a Mardi Gras official, before being forced to awkwardly move to the side of the road and allow three other floats to overtake them, injecting a buffer zone between them and the Labor float. Video of the encounter reveals the organiser warning No Pride marchers they would be removed from the parade if any further trouble was caused.
“If I bring Bill Shorten out here now, and one of you people say something to him then you are not in the fucking parade, do you understand me? So have a chat to your people, you talk to your people right now…you’ve got one more chance. If you don’t, if you can’t act like a normal human being, all in the parade together, you’re out,” the official can be heard saying.
“I don’t care, don’t harass people,” he later says.
No Pride float marshal Ed McMahon, seen in the video conferring with the official, said it was made clear to him that the major concerns were about the group’s engagement with the MPs. He said the action had not been out of the realms of regular political protest, and that the reaction had been disproportionate.
Those participating in the Labor float had been surprised to learn of the parade’s march order, and Labor float marshal Georgia Kriz described it as “unfortunate”, saying both floats had an important point to make which was diminished by their proximity.
“That, I would say, would be Mardi Gras’ fault,” she said.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Mardi Gras CEO Michele Bauer said police had accused the No Pride float of directing “an unacceptable level of harassment and offensive comments” towards the Rainbow Labor marchers, including Shorten and Plibersek, but declined to go into specific detail.
“The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras strongly believe the No Pride in Detention Float has a very important message to send, and without wanting the police to intervene and remove the float from the parade, a last minute decision to reshuffle the run order was made,” Bauer said in the release.
Bauer said the ordering of the parade was a “highly complex logistical feat”.
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