National 3:23 pm AEST May 24 2000 Protests expected at Corroboree 2000 walk AAP -- Organisers of the Corroboree 2000 reconciliation event are bracing themselves for protests this weekend although police have assessed the event as "low risk". Linda Burney of the Aboriginal Reconciliation Council said in all likelihood, demonstrators would use the walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the handing over of the document for reconciliation to protest. "In our planning we've anticipated all circumstances and the idea of protests has been factored in," Ms Burney said. "The appropriate agencies have assessed it as a low risk day." Up to 40 Aboriginal liaison officers from the NSW police force will be on the streets on Sunday to help the expected crowd of 100,000 walk across the bridge incident-free in a symbolic gesture of reconciliation. Corroboree 2000 spans the whole weekend with every federal and state leader expected to attend a ceremony on Saturday where the council's document for reconciliation will be handed to the government. Council member and journalist Ray Martin quoted from a Bob Dylan song, "If you can't lend a hand, get out of the way", urging outspoken Aboriginal activists to heed the advice. "We'd urge people to come with reconciliation in their hearts, not confrontation," Mr Martin said. He said Prime Minister John Howard's document for reconciliation was irrelevant and the council would be presenting its version. "There is only one version, there is only one document. "The prime minister's was just a suggestion, we've had 500 suggestions ... his is one of those." -- ********************************** 'Click' to protect the rainforest: Make the Rainforest Site your homepage! http://www.therainforestsite.com/ ********************************** ------------------------------------------------------ RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
