2 weeks ago
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A heavy police presence is expected in Brisbane on Sunday when the so-called March for Australia anti-immigration rally winds through the city streets.
The rallies across Australia, organised by far-right nationalists and promoted by neo-Nazis, have been widely condemned, with members of Queensland’s Indian community urged to stay home for fear of violent attacks.
But they have also gained traction among right-wing politicians including federal MP Bob Katter, who was promoting the event when he appeared to threaten a journalist with violence for raising his Lebanese heritage on Thursday.
A Reclaim Australia rally held in Brisbane in 2015. Similar scenes are expected on Sunday.Credit: Photographic
Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie defended the March for Australia movement’s right to protest, which he said every Queenslander enjoyed, but urged for calm.
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“Everyone needs to be able to know they live in a free society that the free society brings with it the right to protest, but also rights and responsibilities in terms of loving your neighbour and not inciting hatred, particularly not inciting a religious vilification,” he said on Saturday.
Bleijie said police had informed him the protest could safely proceed, as he drew parallels to last week’s Brisbane rally for Palestine.
“What we ask of people [is] respect everybody, don’t have hate symbols there, like we saw at the protest last week with the terrorist organisation Hamas flag,” he said.
“But, absolutely, the government believes everyone has a right to protest, as long as it’s done in a safe way, a transparent way, and not inciting hate to any group in Queensland.”
Labor opposition multicultural affairs spokeswoman Charis Mullen said the planned rally was “misguided and dangerous” and the Crisafulli government needed to condemn the protest.
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“These anti-immigration rallies are specifically targeting people from our Indian and south-east Asian communities – they are not just an anti-immigration rally,” she said.
“What we have seen, and what I have personally heard, is that multicultural communities are frightened.
“They’re frightened, and tomorrow they will be laying low, they will be not opening their shops, and they will not be going to work.
“That is not acceptable in a state like Queensland.”
Mullen said people considering going to a counter-protest at King George Square should reconsider.
“We don’t want to see violence. We don’t want to see hate in our streets, and I just think that will just embolden anyone who wishes to cause trouble,” she said.
“So my advice is, don’t do it. If you can just stay home and just let this thing ride out and fingers crossed that it will be OK.”
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