Australia P.M. Trapped in Protest

Rowdy protests marked Australia’s national holiday today, as Prime Minister Julia Gillard had to be pulled away by security officers when she got held up in a crowd of demonstrators. The group, with some 200 people, was advocating for Aboriginal rights outside of a Canberra restaurant where the prime minister was officiating a ceremony. Gillard lost a shoe in the scuffle, and looked visibly frightened, according to an Australian report, but said afterward that she was made of “pretty tough stuff” and thanked the police for their service. A senior Aboriginal leader condemned the protesters for their “aggression.”