CANBERRA, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called on Australians joining Black Lives Matter protests not to "import" racial tensions from the United States.
Thousands of people have marched in Australian cities to protest Aboriginal deaths in custody and wider abuse of indigenous Australians, according to The Australian report, after the anti-racism protests in the United States.
Morrison on Thursday acknowledged Australians' right to protest but said that progress was being made.
"We shouldn't be importing the things that are happening overseas to Australia," he told Nine Entertainment radio.
"I'm not saying we don't have issues in this space that we need to deal with. But the thing is, we are dealing with it."
"We don't need to draw equivalence here. We should just Australians about this and deal with it our way and we are," he said.
The protests are taking place despite coronavirus restrictions limiting gatherings to a maximum of 20 people under the 3-step framework in Australia.
Morrison urged protestors to adhere to physical distancing requirements in order to prevent a spike in COVID-19 cases.
"It's surely not beyond their wit to do this, observing social distancing requirements and all the rest of it," he said.
