Julia Gillard’s Media Adviser Quits after Australia Day Incident [PHOTOS, VIDEO]

By Kukil Bora | January 28 2012 12:16 AM

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's media adviser resigned following the incident in which her bodyguard had to drag her to safety through an angry crowd of aboriginal activists in Canberra.

YouTube

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, accosted by angry protesters, is dragged to safety by bodyguard on Thursday.
YouTube

Despite intense calls of investigation coming from the Coalition, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Monday that the information leak which preceded the Australia Day controversy did not merit a criminal investigation.
YouTube

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, accosted by angry protesters, is dragged to safety by bodyguard on Thursday.

The protesters reportedly surrounded a restaurant where Gillard was attending an awards ceremony on the occasion of Australia Day. The protesters forced riot police to form a shield around the prime minister to take her to a waiting car.

The Wall Street Journal reported that a media adviser to the Australian PM resigned Friday amid a controversy surrounding leaked information led to a chaotic confrontation with Aboriginal activists and the premier's emergency rescue by police.

According to the prime minister's office, the media adviser resigned after it emerged that the person was responsible for revealing the whereabouts of opposition leader Tony Abbott, who was with Ms. Gillard at a restaurant.

Australian PM Julia Gillard Attacked by Angry Protesters, Dragged to Safety by Bodyguard. YouTube Screenshot

The protest was apparently aimed at the opposition leader Tony Abbott, who was also present in the restaurant.

According to reports, nearly 200 demonstrators started banging on the building's windows, chanting shame and racist when they came to know that Abbott was attending the function.

While dragged toward the car by her security guard, Gillard lost a shoe in the scuffle, which has been handed to an aboriginal elder named Pat Eatock. Gillard was asked by Eatock to collect her shoe within a week or it would be sold on eBay.

However, the dark blue wedge -- a size 36 Midas -- was returned to the prime minister's office late Friday.

A shoe purported to be Gillard's reportedly fetched bids of £1400 Friday before it was removed from sale.

I see it sitting like Cinderella's shoe in a glass case in a museum 10 years from now as this is part of the history of race relations in Australia, Eatock, 75, told The Telegraph.

Reports said demonstrators calling for Aboriginal sovereignty burnt an Australian flag outside the Parliament House Friday.