GOLD COAST: Indigenous rights protestors, a heavy rain shower and transport issues provided a turbulent backdrop to the opening ceremony of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Wednesday.
About 100 noisy but peaceful protestors were contained by police outside the venue some 90 minutes before the official start of the ceremony, attended by Britain’s Prince Charles, his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
The protestors, carrying signs that read “colonisation is not a game”, had earlier disrupted a leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay and demanded Britain’s royal family members ask them for permission to visit “stolen” land.
Organisers also had to scramble to get spectators to the stadium after significant backlogs at transport hubs for shuttle buses, which organising committee chairman Peter Beattie acknowledged on Twitter.
“There was a delay at Broadbeach,” Beattie wrote. “Extra buses were dispatched. I understand the backlog has cleared. Thanks for your patience.”
A torrential downpour then began just minutes before the ceremony started at 8pm local time (1000 GMT) to an estimated global viewing audience of more than one billion and about 35,000 at Carrara Stadium.