Two women have been charged for allegedly spraying graffiti on a statue of Captain James Cook in Sydney's Hyde Park on June 14. William West/Getty Images
A part-time employee of the New South Wales Australian Greens Party has been identified as one of the two women who allegedly defaced a Captain Cook statue in Sydney’s Hyde Park on June 14.
The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) reported that Xiaoran Shi, 28, and her friend Charmaine Morrison-Mills, 27, were arrested.
The pair were charged with destroying or damaging property and possessing a graffiti implement with intention to use it, according to a police statement.
The women will appear at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on July 2 and were banned from contacting one another or entering Hyde Park.
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge told SMH: “They were not engaged in employment at the time of the incident which occurred well outside of work hours.”
“I will not be making any further comment on the matter as it is currently before the courts,” he said.
NSW Police Minister David Elliott told 2GB radio’s Ben Fordham that Shoebridge’s response was “appalling.”
“I can’t believe anybody wouldn’t just completely and utterly condemn the vandalism instead of just trying to make excuses,“ said Elliot. ”I think both her, the Greens and Mr Shoebridge should actually apologise and condemn acts of violence and vandalism.”
While Shi is a part-time employee of the Greens in NSW and allegedly acted outside of work hours, the neighbouring ACT Greens’ code of conduct (pdf) does include some requirements for behaviour outside of party activities.
It states under the integrity and accountability section that party members will not engage in criminal behaviour or unlawful conduct.
Unlawful conduct is a serious breach of the ACT Greens bylaws and may be required to be investigated immediately, and issues of a serious nature will trigger an investigation and possible further actions.
For comparison, minor breaches of the code are considered to be related to minor disagreements between party members.
Black Lives Matter Attacks Statues
Activists have been tearing down historical statues around the world as part of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which has flared up following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
U.S. journalist Andy Ngo wrote of BLM on Twitter, saying: “BLM at its core is a revolutionary Marxist ideology. Its founders have made no secret of their worship of Communist terrorists & fugitives. They want regime change & the end of the rule of law. Antifa have partnered with them for now to help accelerate the break down of society.”
Police officers stand guard around the statue of Captain James Cook, in Sydney, Australia, June 12. Loren Elliott/Reuters
BLM was founded in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi. According to its website, “The Black Lives Matter Network advocates for dignity, justice, and respect. … Black activists have raised the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it.”
Despite that stated aspiration, recent protests in the United States turned into violent riots across multiple cities and states.
In an investigative article for Capital Research Centre, James Simpson wrote that the three BLM founders also work for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization; a “hereditary descendant of the New Communist Movement inspired by Chinese dictator Mao Zedong and the many communist revolutions occurring throughout the world in the 1960s and ’70s.”
The Freedom Road Socialist Organisation’s website states that it is “recruiting and building towards the creation of a new Communist Party based on Marxism-Leninism.”
Jessie Zhang
Author
Jessie Zhang is a reporter based in Sydney, Australia, covering news on health and science.
