By PAUL SHAPIRO, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA
Updated: 21:52 EST, 25 January 2026
 Thousands of demonstrators are taking part in Invasion Day rallies and anti-immigration protests across the country.Â
While millions celebrate Australia Day, the national holiday has become a hot topic, as debate rages over the date.
January 26 is the day when the First Fleet landed in Sydney Cove and raised the Union Flag, marking Britain’s claim to the country.
The day also marks the beginning of violence and dispossession against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Stay updated with the Daily Mail’s live blog.Â
Protester sets fire to Aussie flag at Brisbane rally
A Brisbane Invasion Day protester has been photographed setting fire to an Australian flag.
The man (below) watched it burn along with several other protesters.
This comes as Queensland Police were forced to separate protesters in Brisbane’s CBD after two people carrying Australian flags arrived at the Invasion Day protest.
The event at Queens Gardens in the city kicked off at 10am while hundreds more joined the group’s march to Musgrave Park in West End from 12pm.
It’s been reported police spoke with a woman who brandished an Australian flag, as Invasion Day protesters yelled across the street at her.
The woman was heard saying ‘I have a right to stand here’ while she spoke to police.
Several people could be heard yelling ‘f*** off’ at the woman who was surrounded by police before she was moved on.
Cops forced to separate protesters in Canberra as riot police descend on Sydney
Meanwhile in Canberra, police quickly separated Invasion Day protesters taking part as they encountered a smaller crowd of March for Australia protesters assembled near Old Parliament House.
Some March for Australia protesters confronted the Invasion Day rally (both sides pictured below) while abuse was shouted from both sides.
Police were quick to defuse the situation and the face-off was over quickly.
In Sydney, police are keeping a close eye out as the March for Australia crowd started their procession along Cleveland street to Moore Park.
The demonstrators are flanked by a heavy police presence on either side of the crowd while mounted police are bringing up the rear.
Riot squad police are also on-hand and present.
A police helicopter is circling overhead and keeping an eye on the crowd.
Police had warned specialist officers, armed with long-arm weapons following the Bondi Terror attack, will be patrolling at significant Australia Day events.
Clandestine neo-Nazis allegedly spotted among anti-immigration protesters
Neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network members have allegedly been spotted with anti-immigration protesters in Melbourne as the rally, which kicked off at the top of Spring Street, has swelled to more than 10,000 people.
The far-right group disbanded on paper, but members have have been seen at March for Australia anti-immigration rallies they helped organise.
It’s been reported multiple neo-Nazis in plain clothes were spotted in the crowd gathering under the Flinders Street station clock.
It’s alleged the neo-Nazis are moving in groups of less than a dozen while some are draped in Australian flags.
Police are eyeing crowds carefully with the anti-immigration March for Australia expected to draw known neo-Nazis and their far-right associates.
Far-right influencer Hugo Lennon has not denied the National Socialist Network involvement in the marches.
Lennon earlier said his group was here to celebrate and will not be ‘brawling in the street’.
The March for Australia rally officially started just after 12.30pm and is currently marching down the tram tracks on Flinders Street chanting ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’.
Earlier today, academic Gary Foley, 76, who helped establish the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra back in the 1970s, spoke about the history of protests against today being a day of celebration.
‘I may not make it ’til next year,’ Foley told the crowd
‘But like I said, I know that the future is in good hands, and congratulations to all the people who’ve turned up today.’
Couple given protection after heckling protesters as anti-immigration rally amps up
A couple walking along the street in Sydney were pushed inside a restaurant for their apparent protection after they booed March for Australia protesters.
It’s been reported the protesters responded with anti-immigration chants and surged toward the couple.
Police quickly created a barrier between the couple and the protesters and moved other people along.
In the meantime, chants have moved away from ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ to anti-immigration and ‘white fight back’ chants.
March for Australia protesters (below) continue to rally in big numbers through Sydney.
Allegations protesters clash in Melbourne and Sydney
It’s been reported protesters from the March for Australia and the Invasion Day march have clashed near Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne.
It’s been alleged two people were quickly moved on by police but other protesters moved in and there were clashes between both groups.
The March for Australia rally had been on a collision course with Invasion Day protesters as they strode up Bourke Street but they were blocked by mounted police officers but have since turned down Lonsdale Street.
It’s understood riot police are now making their way to the scene while uniform police (below) continue to maintain their presence.
Another small scuffle broke out after two young men of African appearance with a microphone made their way through the crowd to the steps of parliament.
It was reported a group of young masked men blocked the pair’s way while they shoved them and ordered them to leave.
Some other protesters intervened and told the masked men to ‘back off’.
It was also reported there was a brief scuffle in Sydney as protesters walked past Central Station.
About four or five people with Australian flags heckled protesters as they walked by.
A handful of people then broke away from the march to chase after them as police followed.
Protesters in Melbourne and Sydney call for senior neo-Nazi’s release
Members of the March for Australia crowd in both Sydney and Melbourne have chanted ‘Free Joel Davis’ who is a high-ranking neo-Nazi.
Davis (left) is on remand after he was charged over a Telegram message in which he allegedly encouraged followers to ‘rhetorically rape’ Wentworth MP Allegra Spender.
Sydney protesters also chanted ‘White Man Fight Back’, which is a popular National Socialist Network slogan.
Melbourne demonstrators were heard chanting ‘you will not replace us’ in an apparent reference to the ‘neo-Nazi great replacement conspiracy’.
Others also screamed ‘send them back’ while passing an Asian restaurant near the State Library of Victoria.
Opposing Melbourne rallies on collision course
Opposing protest groups in Melbourne are currently on a collision course and may converge on each other on Bourke Street.
Invasion Day and March for Australia rallies both on Bourke Street but there are attempts to divert the anti-immigration march down Elizabeth Street towards Latrobe Street.
The crowd is chanting ‘send them back’.
Barricades have been set up across Bourke Street Mall to block the anti-immigration rally approach.
Police (below) are working overtime to keep the rallies apart.
Barricades have also been deployed to block off Exhibition Street which has led the Invasion Day rally march down Bourke Street from the top of Spring.
Earlier, a statue at Parliament House honouring politician and poet Adam Lindsay Gordon was defaced with chalk.
Graffiti written on the monument called Gordon a ‘Cop Nepo Baby’ and called to ‘Abolish Australia’.
March for Australia protesters get going in Sydney
March for Australia Day protesters in the hundreds have kicked of their rally in Prince Alfred Park Sydney chanting ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ while crowd numbers continue to swell.
The majority of protesters are carrying Australia flags however others are carrying Australian Red Ensign flags.
Those flags typically symbolise anti-government sentiment.
The protesters are also carrying a range of signs and flags which proclaim ‘Proud Australia Day’ and ‘Australia under God’ accompanied by a Jesus face with a barbed thorn crown.
There are also signs which denounce vaccines and the Digital ID.
The crowd will walk to Moore Park this afternoon.
NSW Police (below) have maintained a heavy presence as the protests gain momentum.
March for Australia protesters boo Melbourne immigration museum
March for Australia protesters booed the Melbourne Immigration Museum as they travelled west along Flinders Street to commence their march just after 12.30pm.
It’s also been reported several protesters yelled anti-Islamic comments and far-right rhetoric as they passed the building.
The crowd also chanted ‘save Australia’ and ‘Australia first’ as they moved through the CBD and north up William Street.
The protesters are also playing Waltzing Matilda and other Australian songs through a megaphone.
WATCH: Hyde Park Invasion Day protest in full swing
Hyde Park has been overtaken by thousands of protesters. The Invasion Day rally has a mix of speeches, music and smoking ceremonies as the peaceful crowd claps along.
Watch the video below:
Photos captured at the booming rally also depict the many people who gathered to protest Australia Day and call out injustices such as Indigenous deaths in custody.
See the gallery below:
Protesters lash Pauline Hanson, chant ‘f*** Australia’
Angry protesters at Sydney’s Hyde Park have lashed Pauline Hanson, the federal government and NSW Premier Chris Minns’ latest protest crackdowns.
Several speakers called for an end to indigenous deaths in custody, land rights, and for young people to ‘mobilise to fight Pauline’.
A recent poll showed support for One Nation has climbed to a record high. Polling also showed support for Australia Day has climbed steadily in the last three years.
Thousands have descended on Hyde Park (below) as the Australia Day Rally ramps up.
Invasion Day protest organiser Paul Silva told the crowd to ‘abolish the date and abolish the state’.
‘To the nation that celebrates invasion, that builds comfort on graves and calls it pride, f*** you, f*** you Australia,’ Silva said.
March for Australia protesters vow they are not out to ‘brawl in the streets’
March for Australia organiser Hugo Lennon (below) told 3AW his side was ‘not interested in brawling in the street’ as he vowed to take any direction by police to ‘reduce any chance of violence against us’.
‘Hopefully one of the biggest Australia Days, or at least public displays on Australia Day, in years,’ Lennon told 3AW.
‘The March for Australia at previous events has been a call to end mass immigration. The message is very much the same this time around, however, of course, affirming this on our national day.
‘We will gather [at Flinders Street Station] at midday. I guess it’s a pretty big headache for the police.
‘You’ve got two groups diametrically opposed, who are gathering in the city, but we’ve worked with them very closely and made sure that we’re not going to be running into the other group.’
Lennon said the last two marches held by his group ‘went smoothly’ but warned protesters faced ‘extreme violence’ from the other side.
‘We’re here to celebrate. We have our own message to send, we’re not interested in brawling in the street,’ he said.
‘We would be taking any direction from police that would reduce any chance of violence against us.
‘It would be a nightmare [for police]. There’s so much on in the city already, I imagine they’ll be stretched quite thin today.
Lennon also said he was ‘worried’ when asked about reports police would wear helmets and protective gear.
‘It does worry me because what we saw at the last March for Australia,’ Lennon said.
‘We had a group of radicals throwing at police rocks, glass, urine, various missiles. The police line was formed between us and them so all those projectiles were aimed at us.
‘What we are doing is celebrating. We are affirming we are Australia. We are done with the sort of guilt politics. We are here today to make a very public stand against that.
‘The majority of Australians support Australia Day on January 26 and that has been under threat.’
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Australia Day 2026 LIVE updates: Invasion Day protester BURNS Australian flag and neo-Nazis are busted hiding in the crowd at anti-immigration rally – as cops are forced to swoop on confrontation between rival demonstrators