A neo-Nazi was among speakers to address the crowd at a tense anti-immigration protest in Melbourne, as similar demonstrations under the banner March for Australia took place in state and territory capitals across the country on Sunday.
While the protests were condemned as hateful by the federal government, some politicians attended, including the One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, and party member Senator Malcolm Roberts in Canberra and the federal MP Bob Katter in Townsville.
The marches were promoted by neo-Nazis, as well as anti-lockdown figures who gained prominence during the pandemic, and other fringe groups but no group publicly claimed responsibility for organising the protests.
In Melbourne protesters gathered outside Flinders Street station with many carrying Australian flags, along with placards bearing anti-immigration slogans.
A counter-protest also assembled in front of the State Library of Victoria, with the weekly pro-Palestine rally merging with an antifascist counter-demonstration to protest against the March for Australia.
Victoria police blocked off Flinders and Swanston streets to the north of the intersection, in an apparent attempt to keep two rallies apart, but they eventually met at the corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets with a barrier of police between them, three rows deep, including officers on horseback.
A volatile verbal confrontation ensued, with a bottle thrown from the anti-immigration protest smashing at the feet of the antifascist demonstrators, and an open can of beer flying over the police line towards the anti-immigration march.
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The antifascist demonstrators were then pushed back by police in riot gear, who pepper-sprayed approximately a dozen protesters at the front of the crowd.
The anti-immigration rally eventually reached state parliament, where protesters were addressed by speakers, including the neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, who gave a speech claiming “his men” had led the march, and saying: “If we do not stop immigration, then our death is certain.”
A man with a microphone whom Guardian Australia could not identify told the crowd: “Australians are sick and tired of the rising tide of mass immigration in this country”. He led a chant of “Albo must go”, followed by “Aussie Aussie Aussie”, which the crowd bellowed in unison.
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, had earlier condemned those who “walk with Nazis” and expressed concern about the anti-immigration protest while attending a multicultural gala on Saturday night.
“No one who has ever tried to divide this country has ever succeeded,” she said. “Because the promise of multiculturalism is so much stronger.”
In a statement, Victoria police said six people were arrested on charges including assault police, behave in a riotous manner, attempted robbery, assault, and resist police. They said two officers were injured after being struck by bottles thrown at them, but did not require hospitalisation.
Police said they estimated 5,000 people participated in the Melbourne rally and counter-protest.
“Officers were required to form many lines between the different groups to protect the safety of all involved, prevent breaches of the peace and prevent physical violence,” the statement said.
“Police also had to use a range of tactical options including OC spray, baton rounds and public order munitions to prevent violence between protestors, some of whom were intent on creating conflict and violence.
“There is absolutely no place for any of this violent and disruptive behaviour in Victoria and the priority for police was to separate opposing groups and prevent breaches of the peace.”
In Sydney, New South Wales police deployed hundreds of officers at the annual marathon, a weekly pro-Palestine rally and the anti-immigration march, all in different parts of the city.
In Canberra a crowd of what appeared to be a few hundred gathered and chanted on the edge of Lake Burley Griffin with a view of Parliament House across the lake, waving Australian flags and wearing them as capes.
Hanson and Roberts were in attendance;Roberts was seen speaking with a microphone.
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A smaller counter-rally of counter-protesters were kept separated across a road by police, with officers forming a perimeter to keep the groups apart.
In Brisbane, police reported little trouble as a group of a few thousand flag-draped protesters played Redgum on the march between the Roma Street parklands and the city botanical gardens.
They were confronted briefly at Roma Street by a group of a counter-protesters. One video shows Uncle Wayne Wharton, a Brisbane First Nations activist, telling protesters: “You invaded this country, you stole the land.”
Some protesters in both Brisbane and Adelaide were seen expressing solidarity with alleged Porepunkah police killer Dezi Freeman.
In Brisbane a woman repeatedly yelled “I stand with Dezi” as police walked by. She was holding a sign that said “I identify as sovereign”.
In Adelaide a man held a placard with an image of the fugitive at the march from Rundle Park.
It came after Freeman’s wife, Amalia Freeman, released a statement on Sunday pleading with her husband to surrender to police and expressing “deep sorrow” over the fatal shooting of two officers on Tuesday.
South Australia police said the estimated crowds of 15,000 people were generally well-behaved, however there were three arrests.
Ahead of the March for Australia rallies, federal opposition leader, Sussan Ley, released a video on social media on Saturday evening saying: “There is no place for violence, racism or intimidation. Whether incited from afar or stirred up here, we cannot let hatred and fear tear at our social cohesion.”
The federal Labor minister Murray Watt denounced the march on Sunday morning, telling Sky News: “We absolutely condemn the March for Australia rally that’s going on today; it’s not about increasing social harmony.
“We don’t support rallies like this that are about spreading hate and that are about dividing our community.”
The shadow attorney general, Julian Leeser, told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning that he believed there would be people there “of goodwill who want to change policies” but warned them to be careful of the company they keep.
“I’ve seen some of the material for that particular protest and I’m really concerned about the anti-Indian sentiment that is being expressed and some of the antisemitic undertones of some of those protests,” he said.
– additional reporting by Andrew Messenger, Ben Smee, Josh Butler and AAP
