Breaking … Stop the Race-ist Nation

Refugee Supporters and Animal Rights Activists Blockade Entrance to Melbourne Cup
*Action ongoing

A group of people concerned with refugee rights and animal cruelty have come together to shut down a major intersection on Epsom Rd, Flemington, blocking access to Melbourne Cup celebrations. Activists are blockading the racecourse entrance with a banner reading “ALL REFUGEES IN DETENTION ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS”.

Banners stating “STOP THE RACE-IST NATION, #Justice4Refugees #Disrupt2018” and images of ex-racehorses in slaughterhouses with the text “You bet, they die” cover the entrance to Flemington Racecourse. A car parked in the intersection has “ANIMAL LIBERATION, HUMAN LIBERATION”‘ painted across it.

“We encourage every person of good conscience to examine our complicity in cruelty today. While so-called Australia parties at the Melbourne Cup, children and adults are suffering in detention on Nauru, Manus Island, Christmas Island and in onshore detention centres,” Charlotte Lynch, spokesperson for Whistleblowers, Activists and Citizens’ Alliance (WACA), said. “There are 17 children held under constant surveillance at MITA, Broadmeadows, alongside refugees who have been incarcerated there for up to a decade. MITA is only 14 kilometres from Flemington Racecourse where millions of dollars will be splashed around on the Melbourne Cup that will only benefit the already-wealthy.”

The protesters are calling for an end to mandatory detention of refugees and an immediate evacuation of all refugees from detention centres. Last year, activists from Whistleblowers Activists and Citizens Alliance dropped a banner off a crane at the Melbourne Cup, with a message that read ‘SOS EVACUATE MANUS’.

“For 5 years our government has been taking court action using our tax dollars to fight the emergency transfer of critically ill children requiring medical treatment,” Anu Algama, spokesperson for WACA said. “Polls repeatedly show that the majority of Australian people do not agree with the cruelty of offshore detention. Yet both sides of politics remain complicit in the torture and abuse of people legally seeking asylum. We demand that all asylum seekers and refugees held as political hostages by this government be safely resettled in the community.”

“We aim to raise awareness for the thousands of racehorses who are bred and killed each year if they are not fast enough to race, the many that die on the track due to catastrophic limb injuries, internal bleeding or cardiac arrest and those who are sent to slaughter once their racing days are over and they have become unprofitable to the racing industry,” animal rights spokesperson, Sophie Moore said. “We cannot be bystanders while a majority of these animals suffer horrific injuries such as bleeding in the lungs and windpipe. There is no entertainment to be had when we hurt them. There is no thriving community to be had when such a day also feeds a toxic gambling culture that destroys families and harms animals.”

“The torture and abuse of refugees is built on the same system that exploits animals; a system driven by profit and greed, permeating a myth that some lives matter more than others” spokesperson Kat Moore said. “Today we can commit to a cruelty free world, a promise and commitment that both those seeking asylum and animals deserve. We call on others across the country to join us in opposing all forms of cruelty and abuse, whether perpetrated against human beings, animals or the environment. All refugees must be evacuated immediately from Manus Island and Nauru and resettled safely in Australia or New Zealand.

Charlotte Lynch (Refugee Rights Spokesperson)

Sophie Moore (Animal Rights Spokesperson)

#Disrupt2018

#Justice4Refugees

#AnimalLiberation

#NupToTheCup

#KidsOffAllOff

#YouBetTheyDie

#SanctionAustralia

#RefuseToBeComplicit