Thousands protest Australia Day holiday with ‘Invasion Day’ rallies

SYDNEY, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Thousand’s marked Australia’s national day on Friday with “Invasion Day” rallies in support of the country’s Indigenous community, many of whom oppose celebrating the day a British fleet sailed into Sydney Harbour in 1788. Australia Day commemorates the day Britain established the state of New South Wales a penal colony, arriving in what is now the state capital Sydney with a “First Fleet” bringing colonists and convicts. Many people celebrate the holiday with barbecues and trips to the beach, and it is also a popular date for immigrants to receive their Australian citizenship. But many Indigenous Australians, who make up 3.8% of the country’s 26 million people, reject the holiday as marking the start of…