President of the Assyrian Australian National Federation, David David told SBS, "We celebrated this day through Zoom and Facebook on Friday, 7 August 2020.
Six participating members of Federal and State parliament affirmed their sympathy and stance towards the cause of our people and promised to continue working to obtain recognition of genocide by the federal government".
Mr David confirmed that representatives of the Armenian and Greek society also participated and declared their stance with the Assyrian people.
Mr David also said that the celebration of this solemn day included visiting the Assyrian Genocide Monument in Bonnyrigg. Despite the rain, ten students representing St. Narsai Assyrian Christian College visited the monument and laid a wreath.
According to UNPO.org, 'August 7 was chosen to commemorate Martyrs Day because in 1933, between August 8 and 11, the Iraqi army, led by Bakir Sidqi, entered the Assyrian town of Simmele and its surroundings, in north Iraq, and massacred 3,000 Assyrian men, women and children, after they had been promised safety if the men surrendered their weapons'.
