![\"Australia\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/152565098.jpg\" "\\"Australia\\"\/")
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Protests across Australia cities. (Photo: Screengrab\/X)<\/p>\n
Neo-Nazis and politicians took part in anti-immigration “March for Australia” rallies across multiple Australian cities on Sunday, with tense confrontations between protesters and counter-demonstrators. The marches drew attention for the presence of far-right figures and some elected officials, reports The Guardian.<\/p>\n
In Melbourne, protesters gathered outside Flinders Street station, waving Australian flags and carrying anti-immigration placards. A counter-protest merged with the weekly pro-Palestine rally outside the State Library of Victoria. Police blocked Flinders and Swanston streets to separate the groups, but the crowds met near Collins and Elizabeth streets.<\/p>\n
Tensions escalated when a bottle and an open can of beer were thrown across police lines. Riot police pepper-sprayed about a dozen counter-protesters and pushed them back. Six people were arrested on charges including assaulting police, attempted robbery, and rioting. Two officers were injured but did not require hospitalisation.<\/p>\n
Three people were arrested, including a 23-year-old man for assaulting police and two 32-year-old men for “wearing articles of disguise” and failing to state personal details, reports ABC News.<\/p>\n
One woman was arrested in Hyde Park where a pro-Palestine protest was being held for allegedly disturbing the peace.<\/p>\n
The Melbourne rally continued to state parliament, where neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell addressed the crowd. \u201cIf we do not stop immigration, then our death is certain,\u201d he said. Another unidentified speaker told demonstrators, “Australians are sick and tired of the rising tide of mass immigration in this country,” leading chants of “Albo must go” and “Aussie Aussie Aussie”. <\/p>\n
Political figures also attended the rallies. One Nation leader Pauline Hanson joined the Canberra march alongside Senator Malcolm Roberts, while federal MP Bob Katter appeared at a Townsville protest. Their attendance drew criticism from government leaders who described the demonstrations as hateful and divisive.<\/p>\n
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan condemned those who “walk with Nazis”. “No one who has ever tried to divide this country has ever succeeded,” she said. Federal minister Murray Watt added, “We absolutely condemn the March for Australia rally…we don\u2019t support rallies like this that are about spreading hate,” as quoted by The Guardian.<\/p>\n
Police across states estimated 5,000 participants in Melbourne, and about 15,000 in Adelaide, where three arrests were made. Sydney and Canberra saw smaller gatherings, with counter-protesters kept separate by police lines. Brisbane saw brief clashes at Roma Street parklands, where some counter-protesters criticized the march for ignoring Indigenous land rights.<\/p>\n
Some protesters in Brisbane and Adelaide expressed support for alleged Porepunkah police killer Dezi Freeman. In Brisbane, a woman carried a sign reading “I identify as sovereign” while repeatedly shouting “I stand with Dezi”. Freeman’s wife Amalia Freeman released a statement pleading with him to surrender.<\/p>\n
Federal opposition leader Sussan Ley warned against violence and racism ahead of the marches. “We cannot let hatred and fear tear at our social cohesion,” she said. <\/p>\n
Shadow Attorney General Julian Leeser cautioned participants to be mindful of extremist elements. “I’ve seen some of the material for that particular protest and I\u2019m really concerned about the anti-Indian sentiment \u2026 and some of the antisemitic undertones,” he said.<\/p>\n
In Perth, around 5,000 anti-immigration protesters and several hundred counter-protesters hurled abuse and chants at each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Protests across Australia cities. (Photo: Screengrab\/X) Neo-Nazis and politicians took part in anti-immigration “March for Australia” rallies across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6905,3443,77890,77895,77894,77902,64,63,77889,32308,651,2667,43221,74053,72303,77893,77896,77899,74054,25655,77901,16287,77892,77891,13404,77900,44,14754,46,77898,2325,77897,670,3229,6649,1346],"class_list":["post-108687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-abc-news","tag-adelaide","tag-adelaide-top-updates","tag-albo","tag-amalia-freeman","tag-anti-immigration-march","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-anti-immigration-protests-thousands-rally-across-melbourne","tag-bob-katter","tag-brisbane","tag-canberra","tag-collins","tag-dezi","tag-dezi-freeman","tag-elizabeth","tag-flinders","tag-flinders-street","tag-freeman","tag-guardian","tag-hyde-park","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-julian-leeser","tag-malcolm-roberts","tag-murray-watt","tag-neo-nazis","tag-news","tag-pauline-hanson","tag-perth","tag-state-library-of-victoria","tag-sussan-ley","tag-swanston","tag-sydney","tag-times-now","tag-townsville","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}