Australian PM Julia Gillard Loses Shoe in Angry Mob Attack

Australia's top two politicians were whisked away from an angry mob in Canberra during Australia Day festivities yesterday. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott were celebrating the national holiday in a swanky restaurant, sipping champagne when a group of some 200 people from the nearby Aboriginal tent embassy surrounded the premises and began chanting ''Shame'', ''Racist'' and ''Always was, will be, Aboriginal land'' while banging on the restaurant's the glass walls.

It's believed the protests were sparked by comments made by Abbott about ''moving on'' the Aboriginal tent embassy, which celebrated its 40th anniversary yesterday.

In the scramble by security to whisk the Prime Minister and Abbott to safety, Ms. Gillard lost a shoe. The protesters are now alternating between using it as a trophy (as shown in the video above) and/or hostage (as shown in this video) to get Gillard to meet with the new Aboriginal parliament.

Australia's relations with its Aboriginal citizens has been contentious, to say the least, since European settlers began arriving on the continent in the 1600s. 

Additional sources for this story: http://www.theage.com.au/national/australia-day-shame-20120126-1qjt1.html#ixzz1kap80o79. KazzaDrask Media wrote about Australian politics and the election of Julia Gillard as the country's first woman prime minister in 2010. Click here for a recap about the fierce fight to rule the Land Down Under between Gillard and Abbott.