'George Pell, Go to Hell': Protesters Chant Outside Australian Cardinal's Funeral
Groups of protesters gathered outside the funeral of Cardinal George Pell, Australia’s most senior Catholic cleric, at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, on Thursday, February 2.
“George Pell, go to hell,” was just one of the slogans chanted by anti-Pell protesters, heard in this footage captured by Twitter user @Schtang. One protester, holding a microphone, said that the Catholic Church is “on the side of the rich and powerful.”
A royal commission investigating institutional child sexual abuse found Pell knew of allegations of child molestation in Victoria’s Ballarat Archdiocese in the early 1970s. Pell denied that he knew of any abuse, according to reports.
LGBT groups were joined by protesters supporting survivors of sexual abuse in Hyde Park, opposite the cathedral, according to the ABC.
Speaking at the mass, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott praised Pell as a hero and a scapegoat for the Catholic Church who endured a “modern-day crucifixion,” according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The current prime minister Anthony Albanese did not attend the funeral.
In the lead-up to the funeral, hundreds of ribbons were tied to the railings outside the cathedral for victim-survivors of child sexual abuse. Credit: @Schtang via Storyful
Video Transcript
- Go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well! George Pell, go to hell! Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well.
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell, go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- George Pell go to hell!
- Take Dutton there, as well!
- 5, 6, 7, 8!
- No right to discriminate!
- 1, 2, 3, 4!
- Kick the bigots out the door!
- 5, 6, 7, 8!
- No right to discriminate!
- 1, 2, 3, 4!
- Kick the bigots out the door!
- 5, 6, 7, 8!
- No right to discriminate!
- 1, 2, 3--
- --discriminated minority [INAUDIBLE] because we need to stop [INAUDIBLE] Catholic bigotry, start asking the police why actually they're on the side of the rich and powerful. And it is us who are defending the majority [INAUDIBLE]! It is us who are defending from the attack to our right [INAUDIBLE], to our right to go to school, our right to work, our right to access abortion medication and abortion.
