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Lidia Thorpe has said she’s ‘proud’ of her protest at Mardi Gras after she laid down in the middle of the parade and clashed with police.
The former Greens senator, who defected from the party earlier this month to become an independent, drew boos from the crowd as she disrupted the parade along Oxford Street in Sydney on Saturday night.
Daily Mail Australia watched as Senator Thorpe suddenly crashed the police section of the parade holding her arms crossed above her head yelling ‘f**k the police’.
After chasing down officers as they marched, she repeatedly yelled her slogan in their faces as others confronted her.
She then jumped in front of the Australian Federal Police float and laid down on the ground bringing it to a stop.
Senator Thorpe addressed her behaviour on Sunday morning, saying she was ‘proud’ of her action.
‘Black and brown trans women started the first pride march as a protest against police violence,’ she wrote on Twitter.
‘Today, we still face violence from police. Proud to have joined the #PrideInProtest float in Sydney to say #NoPrideInGenocide, #NoPrideInPrisons and #NoCopsInPride.’
Pictures show the newly independent senator jumping into the parade route and standing in front of an officer with her arms crossed
Senator Thorpe was later pictured lying on her back in front of a float as it tried to travel down Oxford Street as two police officers asked her to move on amid ‘boos’ from the crowd
Her antics angered spectators, who had been looking forward to the event after the parade was cancelled along Oxford Street the previous two years.
A smaller version of the event had been moved to the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2021 and 2022 because of the Covid pandemic.
Footage of her protest circulated around social media on Sunday morning with her antics drawing plenty of criticism.
‘She’s zero respect for LGBTQIA people. The woman is a disgrace!’ one wrote.
Another added: ‘Is there anywhere that Lidia Thorpe can go and just act like a normal human being?
‘Is it really that hard to conduct yourself in a decent manner??’
‘In a desperate attempt for attention & relevance, activist Lidia Thorpe lays down in front of #MardiGras2023 parade float preventing it from moving forward, scuffles with police & allegedly yelled ‘F*** the police’,’ a third person wrote.
‘A total disgrace to elected office!’
Daily Mail Australia contacted Ms Thorpe for comment.
One Mardi Gras attendee who witnessed the incident told Daily Mail Australia: ‘She came out of nowhere, it took a few seconds for us to realise what was going on.
‘I don’t know how she got into the parade but she ran after the cops as they marched screaming “f*** the police” at them and towards the crowd.
‘She really got in their faces when she caught up, like inches away. Not what we expected to see tonight.
‘Pride is supposed to be about unity but she was the only one there making it about something else. Shocking, really’.
In a scene captured and shared by fellow revellers on social media, the senator can be seen lying on the ground while two officers speak to her.
The crowd can be heard telling police to ‘get rid of her’ and ‘get her up’ before what looked to be event organisers or marshals intervening.
Senator Thorpe wore Aboriginal colours and held a ‘No Pride in Genocide’ sign to the iconic parade on Saturday night
Footage of her protest was circulated on social media the following morning with her antics continuing to draw plenty of criticism on Sunday
When she did eventually stand up, she can be seen pointing fingers at the two police officers.
One of the officers can be seen trying to put distance between them as the crowd grows louder and continues to boo the controversial politician.
At one stage, she can be seen visibly swatting away the hand of a police officer.
A NSW police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia an incident had occurred at about 9pm.
‘A woman lay in front of a float on Oxford Street, momentarily preventing the progress of the parade,’ she said.
‘She was later removed from the parade at the request of organisers for breaching the terms of her participation’.
No charges were laid and there was no arrests.
Ms Thorpe marched with the ‘No Pride in Genocide’ float, who campaign for zero police presence at Mardi Gras and was earlier pictured wearing First Nations colours and holding an Aboriginal Flag handbag.
Many police officers marching at the parade were waving Progress flags with the male police officer confronted by the senator not appearing to react to her protestations.
Pride in Protest, a LGBTQIA+ activist group, announced the newly independent senator would be participating in their float in an Instagram post on Thursday.
Mardi Gras board director and Pride in Protest member Skip Blofield welcomed Senator Thorpe’s participation in the float.
‘I am proud to march alongside Lidia this Saturday to say that queer rights and Blak rights are one and the same,’ Mr Blofield said.
The group has organised floats and marched in the Mardi Gras parade for close to a decade under banners such as ‘Queers Against Austerity’ and ‘No Pride in Detention’.
‘We are staunch in saying that the oppression of queer people and the oppression of Indigenous people and refugees are one and the same fight.
‘We find it shameful that the Australian government continues the atrocities of the camps and prisons in this country,’ Pride in Protest member Mikhael Burnard said.
Senator Thorpe marched with the ‘No Pride in Genocide’ float, who campaign for zero police present at Mardi Gras
The group welcomed ‘all community members’ to join them and Senator Thorpe in marching.
It’s not the first time Senator Thorpe has publicly confronted police.
In May, while she was still a member of the Green party, she told a police officer ‘you’re a disgrace’ during a demonstration at Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation where activists protested against the transportation of 12 detainees to Christmas Island detention centre.
‘You are the criminals, you are the only criminals on this land,’ Ms Thorpe shouted at police in video posted to her social media channels.
‘How dare you manhandle women like you did. Like you pushed me out of the way. You’re an absolute disgrace,’ she added.
Ms Thorpe has become known for high profile activism in her four years in Victorian and federal politics, especially on immigration, social justice and environmental issues.
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