Hundreds of people protest-rolling down a hill is delightfully mesmerizing

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday at Parliament House in Canberra to make their way down a hill in a mass protest roll.
 By 
Brittany Levine Beckman
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Australians know how to protest.

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday local time at Parliament House in Canberra to make their way down a hill in a mass protest roll.

The government plans to build a security fence to block access to the hill and other capital grounds. Protesters opposed to the fence rolled down the grassy slope just as many visitors to Parliament House often do. Even dogs got in on the democratic action.

The event was organized by Lester Yao, an architect, on Facebook and delightful videos of the roll-a-thon were shared widely on social media.

"It was only going to be about 20 friends and families, and now we had more than 600 or 700 people," Yao told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Unfortunately, kids might not be able to do this again and they're just enjoying themselves."

The fence became a matter of debate after demonstrators breached security at Parliament House earlier this year. Lawmakers had even tossed around the idea of digging a moat around the slope, but that was sanely rejected.

Topics Activism

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Brittany Levine Beckman

Brittany Levine Beckman was Mashable's managing editor. She enjoys crafting feature ideas, learning new things, and party parrots. Before working at Mashable, she covered community news at the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. That's how she met a zonkey and the tallest man in the world.

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