SYDNEY – Australia’s prime minister condemned heckling and booing Friday at two solemn Anzac Day commemorations as “low cowardice,” warning that those responsible would “face the full force of the law.”
Anzac Day originally marked the ill-fated World War I landing of Australia and New Zealand Army Corps troops at Gallipoli, in what is now Turkey, in 1915.
Facing dug-in German-backed Ottoman forces, more than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen were killed in the Allied expedition.This year commemorates the 110th anniversary of the landing.
Anzac Day now also honours Australians and New Zealanders who have served in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
Large crowds gathered across cities and towns in both countries just before dawn to pay their respects.
“We, who are gathered here, think of those who went out to the battlefields of all wars but did not return,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who attended a service in Canberra.
“We feel them still near us in spirit. We wish to be worthy of their great sacrifice.”
But services in Perth and Melbourne were briefly disrupted by booing and heckling during the Welcome to Country ceremony — a traditional blessing from a local Indigenous elder before an event.
Albanese later described the interruptions as “an act of low cowardice on a day where we honor courage and sacrifice”.
