Australia PM says no to national day date change

The date of Australia's national day should not be changed, the prime minister said Thursday, as thousands of protesters marred celebrations on the day that commemorates the arrival of the country's first British colonists in Sydney Harbor on Jan 26, 1788.

The British never acknowledged the land was owned by the Aborigines and the lack of any treaty has long been a source of division.

Thousands of protesters took part in largely peaceful "Invasion Day" rallies in the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, while hundreds staged a sit-in outside Parliament House in the national capital, Canberra.