Clashes in Australia’s Melbourne as thousands rally against immigration

Police successful the Australian metropolis of Melbourne person deployed capsicum spray and baton rounds pursuing “violent clashes” betwixt protesters rallying against migration and counter-demonstrators, according to section media.

The unit connected Sunday took spot arsenic thousands of radical rallied crossed large cities successful Australia, including Sydney, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane, to request an extremity to what they called “mass immigration”.

The Australian authorities has condemned the rallies, which took spot nether the banner of “March for Australia”, arsenic racist, portion Minister of Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly said the gatherings were “organised by Nazis”.

About 5,000 protesters, immoderate draped successful the Australian flag, and counter-protesters turned up successful Melbourne, the SBS Network reported, citing the police.

The web said convulsive clashes betwixt the 2 groups erupted “multiple times”, prompting the constabulary to deploy the riot squad who utilized capsicum spray and baton rounds to support the groups apart.

At slightest six radical were arrested successful the metropolis for charges including assault, according to SBS.

The Australian Associated Press quality bureau besides reported connected the unit successful Melbourne.

The radical down “March for Australia” said connected its website and societal media that “mass migration has torn astatine the bonds that held our communities together” and that its rallies aimed to bash “what the mainstream politicians ne'er person the courageousness to do: request an extremity to wide immigration”.

Critics denounced the claim, expressing interest implicit a emergence successful right-wing extremism successful Australia, wherever 1 successful 2 radical is either calved overseas oregon has a genitor calved overseas.

“Let’s not beryllium coy astir this. They weren’t protesting migration from achromatic Western countries,” said Aly, the multicultural affairs minister.

“I would accidental to those who marched, and who argued that they person those morganatic concerns, that they were organised by Nazis, the precise intent of them was anti-immigration,” Aly told ABC News.

There was nary authoritative remark from “March for Australia” astir the Nazi allegations.

The speakers astatine the rally successful Melbourne included salient Australian neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, The Age paper reported. He was among a radical of men wearing achromatic who aboriginal attacked an Indigenous protestation campy successful Melbourne, called Camp Sovereignty, the ABC reported.

Organisers of Camp Sovereignty said successful a connection that 4 radical were injured, including a pistillate who was taken to hospital. The organisers besides said that constabulary did not get until aft the men had near and made nary arrests.

Victoria Police abstracted counter-protesters extracurricular Flinders Street Station during the ‘March for Australia’ anti-immigration rally successful Melbourne, Sunday, connected Sunday [Joel Carrett/EPA]

In Sydney, constabulary estimated that betwixt 5,000 to 8,000 radical joined the anti-immigration protest, portion the Refugee Action Coalition, a assemblage activistic organisation, held a counter-rally.

March for Australia protester Glenn Allchin told the Reuters quality bureau that helium wanted a “slowdown” successful immigration.

“It’s astir our state bursting astatine the seams and our authorities bringing much and much radical in,” Allchin said. “Our kids struggling to get homes, our hospitals – we person to hold 7 hours – our roads, the deficiency of roads.”

Counter-protesters successful Sydney, meanwhile, held signs pointing retired that extracurricular of Indigenous people, the immense bulk of Australia’s colonisation are immigrants. “Our lawsuit shows the extent of disgust and choler astir the acold close docket of March For Australia”, a spokesperson for the Refugee Action Coalition said successful a statement.

Far-right Australian Senator Pauline Hanson joined a fewer 100 radical protesting successful the capital, Canberra, portion Bob Katter, the person of a tiny populist party, attended a “March for Australia” rally successful Queensland, a enactment spokesperson said. In the lead-up to the rally, the seasoned lawmaker had threatened a newsman for mentioning Katter’s Lebanese practice astatine a quality league erstwhile the taxable of his attendance astatine a “March for Australia” lawsuit was being discussed.

“Don’t accidental that, due to the fact that that irritates me, and I punch blokes successful the rima for saying that,” Katter had shouted astatine the reporter, according to SBS.

Australia’s Greens lawman person and spokesperson for antiracism, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, said successful a connection that “these rallies indispensable beryllium called retired for what they are: acts of racist fearfulness mongering and hate”.

Faruqi besides criticised the Labor government, saying it “must extremity its racist dog-whistling connected migrants and refugees and its ace down connected pro-Palestine protesters and alternatively absorption connected the urgent implementation of the National Anti-Racism Framework”.

Australia’s spy bureau has antecedently warned that far-right groups are connected the rise successful Australia and that they had go much organised and visible.

Laws banning the Nazi salute and the show oregon merchantability of symbols associated with panic groups came into effect successful Australia this year, successful effect to a drawstring of anti-Semitic attacks connected synagogues, buildings and cars since the opening of Israel’s warfare successful Gaza successful October 2023.

An Australian-born achromatic supremacist murdered 51 Muslim worshippers successful a Christchurch mosque successful New Zealand successful 2019.