Sydney Mardi Gras: Lidia Thorpe laid in front of the wrong float – and pulled the stunt twice
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Rebel Senator Lidia Thorpe blended in and threw herself in front of a youth charity truck instead of the police float during her bizarre Sydney Mardi Gras protest.
Rather than obstruct the Australian Federal Police or New South Wales Police float as he had planned, Thorpe stepped into the path of the QLife truck representing the anonymous LGBTIQ hotline and youth charity Twenty10.
It can also be revealed that she pulled the same stunt, bringing the parade to a halt, twice before being unceremoniously thrown out of the event.
New photos, video footage and descriptions of Thorpe’s attention-seeking crash have emerged since she was thrown out of the parade on Saturday night for violating safety and participation guidelines.
In response to Thorpe’s extraordinary actions, Radio 2GB’s Ben Fordham has described the now independent senator as “unfit for office”.
New photos have emerged of former Green senator Lidia Thorpe (above) at Mardi Gras, where she appeared to hold two separate protests before laying down twice in the parade, in front of the wrong float.
Lydia Thorpe at her first break in Oxford Street, apparently mistaking a float for a gay and lesbian youth charity for the federal or state police truck.
The former Green senator, who defected from the party earlier this month to become an independent, drew boos from the crowd with her antics on Oxford Street.
According to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2023 Code of Conduct, “threatening or aggressive behavior, both verbally and physically” is not permitted and participants must obey instructions from staff, security, volunteers, Sydney Police NSW and SGLMG emergency services.
The QLife float for a gay and lesbian helpline and youth charity Twenty10 was just behind the federal police float and when Thorpe obstructed it, paradegoers began booing it.
A timeline of Lidia Thorpe’s actions on Saturday reveals that she delivered an inflammatory speech to other members of the Pride in Protest group’s No Pride in Genocide float some time before the parade began at 8 p.m.
She said she was marching ‘not just for First Peoples’ but ‘for people who want to love the fuck who they want to love’ posed with a sign reading ‘Stop police attacks on gays, women and blacks’. Queers say, Treated now, cops out Mardi Gras’
The 12,500 marchers and more than 200 floats for the event began to move, and federal and state police entered the procession around 9 p.m.
Daily Mail Australia then saw Thorpe crash into the police part of the parade, arms crossed over his head and yelling ‘f*** the police’.
As the police continued to move, he intensified his protest and lay on his back directly in front of a truck that was next in line.
As the crowd began booing Thorpe, two policemen tried to pick her up and move her forward, while she pointed to an officer and gestured for him to back off.
Lidia Thorpe confronts a police officer during the parade after two police floats entered the queue of trucks and she stepped up her protest to oppose any police presence, which is mandatory under SGLMG guidelines.
Instead of building police officers, Thorpe lay down in front of the float representing gay and lesbian mental health support services, including Twenty10 (above), which is for young people.
Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras’s own guidelines call for respectful behaviour, police compliance and prohibit aggressive behaviour, whether physical or verbal.
Another officer tried to usher her from the front of the float which belonged to QLife, and it sported a large illuminated sign on the back promoting the NSW Gay and Lesbian Counseling Service helpline and “celebrating 50 years from GLCS NSW/Phone”. -a friend’.
UK visitor Alex Day, who filmed Thorpe’s antics, thought she was just “a drunken weirdo”.
Moments later, Thorpe lay down on the ground again, further away from the QLife van, surrounded by three officers and with the crowd again booing her.
A participant in the truck that Thorpe mistook for a police float told Radio 2GB: ‘I was marching with them. We were directly behind the police.’
QLife operates Twenty10, which provides accommodation, counseling and mental health support for young gay men in Sydney. It merged with GCLS in 2012 to offer free programs and safe spaces to “people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or gender diverse, intersex, queer, asexual, or questioning.”
As a participant in the parade, Thorpe and the group he was marching with, Pride in Protest, agree to abide by SGLMG operational, safety and logistical standards. Participant Terms and Conditions.
On Sunday, Thorpe said she was “proud” of her Mardi Gras protest.
“Black and brown trans women started the first pride march in protest against police violence,” he wrote on Twitter.
‘Today, we still face violence from the police. Proud to have joined the #PrideInProtest float in Sydney to say #NoPrideInGenocide, #NoPrideInPrisons and #NoCopsInPride.’
Later, Senator Thorpe was photographed lying on her back in front of a float attempting to travel down Oxford Street while two policemen urged her to go ahead amid “boos” from the crowd.
Footage of their protest circulated on social media on Sunday morning, and their antics drew much criticism.
‘She has zero respect for LGBTQIA people. The woman is a disgrace! one wrote.
Another added: ‘Is there somewhere Lidia Thorpe can go and act like a normal human being?
‘Is it really that hard to behave in a decent manner?’
“In a desperate bid for attention and relevance, activist Lidia Thorpe lays down in front of the #MardiGras2023 parade float preventing it from moving forward, scuffles with police and allegedly yells ‘Fuck the police,'” he wrote. a third person.
‘A total disgrace for an elected official!’
Daily Mail Australia contacted Ms Thorpe for comment.
A Mardi Gras attendee who witnessed the incident told Daily Mail Australia: “She came out of nowhere, it took us a few seconds to realize what was going on.”
“I don’t know how he got into the parade, but he ran after the police as they marched yelling ‘fuck the police’ at them and the crowd.”
‘She really got in their faces when she reached them, like inches away. Not what we expected to see tonight.
“Pride is supposed to be about unity, but she was the only one there doing it for something else. Shocking, really.’
Senator Thorpe donned Aboriginal colors and held a “No Pride in Genocide” sign at the iconic parade on Saturday night.
Footage of his protest circulated on social media the next morning and his antics continued to draw much criticism on Sunday.
Senator Thorpe marched with the ‘No Pride in Genocide’ float, which campaigns for zero police presence at Mardi Gras.
This is not the first time Senator Thorpe has publicly confronted the police.
In May, while still a member of the Green Party, he told a police officer “you are a disgrace” during a demonstration at Melbourne’s Immigration Transit Accommodation, where activists protested against the transport of 12 detainees to the detention center from Christmas Island.
“You are the criminals, you are the only criminals on this earth,” Ms Thorpe yelled at police in a video posted on her social media channels.
How dare you mistreat women like you did? Like you push me out of the way. You are an absolute disgrace,” she added.
Ms. Thorpe has become known for her high-profile activism in her four years in Victorian and federal politics, especially on issues of immigration, social justice, and the environment.