Tensions flare as thousands attend anti-migrant rallies
Farid Farid, Dominic Giannini and Joel Carrett |
Draped in flags and shouting expletive-laden slogans, thousands of people have attended anti-immigration rallies across Australia.
The nationwide marches also drew large numbers of counter-protesters, with police forced to separate the crowds.
In Melbourne, a mostly male crowd numbered in the thousands congregated outside Flinders Street Station waving Australian flags before marching through town.
A row of young men in uniformed black jackets and pants stood together, with one wearing a shirt marked with the words “f*** off we’re full”.
Police were out in force to separate the march from an anti-racist counter-protest, with pepper spray deployed and horses used to keep them apart.
Victorian Police Minister Anthony Carbines described the anti-immigration marches as “grubby and hateful”.
Anyone who broke the law would be dealt with by authorities, he warned.
Thousands more people attended a rally in Sydney, where some carried signs saying ‘Albo’s got to go’ while crowds also gathered in Brisbane.
A few hundred people turned out in Canberra, where One Nation leader Pauline Hanson addressed the crowd to speak about loving Australia.
“If you don’t love it, I’ll be the first one to take you to the airport and put you on a plane,” she said.
The Queensland firebrand was elected to federal parliament more than three decades ago following a campaign against Asian migration.
Her colleague Malcolm Roberts also addressed the ACT crowd.
“We all feel the death of Australian identity,” he said.
“Mass immigration is not in Australia’s interests.”
Ahead of the rallies, political leaders called for calm and warned violence and racism had no place in Australia.
“We cannot let hatred and fear tear at our social cohesion,” federal opposition leader Sussan Ley said.
Cabinet minister Murray Watt said he “absolutely condemned” the anti-migrant rallies.
“The fact that this is being organised and promoted by neo-Nazi groups tells us everything we need to know about the level of hatred and division that these kind of rallies are about,” he said.
Liberal Senator James Paterson, who has long championed strict migration laws, said many Australians held sincere views on the topic.
However, he warned neo-Nazis would be present at the rallies, and expressed concern about the targeting of multicultural communities including Indian Australians, labelling it shameful and wrong.
NSW Police had their work cut out for them with hundreds of officers deployed across the Sydney marathon, a weekly pro-Palestine rally and the anti-immigration march in different parts of the city.
Commanders warned there would no tolerance for violent acts or criminal behaviour.
Ahead of the marches, a flurry of social media posts claimed 1500 migrants were arriving in Australia each day, which was repeated on talkback radio.
However, the Australian Bureau of Statistics questioned the use of migration numbers, warning they were not an accurate reflection of immigration.
AAP
