Clashes broke out during anti-immigration rallies held across Australian cities on Sunday, with the police resorting to using pepper spray against some demonstrators in Melbourne, media reports said.
Some of the flyers shared during the event reportedly targeted the rise in the number of Indian immigrants in the past five years.
According to reports, clashes broke out when the marchers faced resistance from counter-demonstrators.
Sharing images of the rallies held across the country, March for Australia, the group that organised them, wrote on X: “We did it Australia.”
Organiser Mark Aldridge told the ABC the event was about “mass immigration at a time when Aussies are struggling”.
“It’s not anti-migration,” he said.
“The general consensus here is mass immigration; it’s just not the right time,” he told the news channel.
“Whilst there’s not enough homes, not enough resources, I think we need to temper migration down and then have a national conversation as adults about the continuation of migration figures,” he said.
One Nation senator Pauline Hanson and federal MP Bob Katter were among the opposition politicians who had joined the rallies.
Sydney
Thousands of demonstrators marched from Belmore Park to Victoria Park near the University of Sydney Quadrangle in Sydney. A counter-rally in support of immigrants was held in Prince Alfred Park.
Melbourne
ABC reported, anti-immigrant marchers and attendees of a pro-Palestine rally clashed in Melbourne as the city witnessed a tense situation, with the police intervening and separating the two groups.
A glass bottle was thrown, which shattered near the pro-Palestine group as the two sides continued to face off, reported the news channel.
Adelaide
Police estimated that around 15,000 people participated in Sunday’s rally and counter-rally in Adelaide.
Perth
Tension prevailed in Perth where around 5,000 anti-immigration protesters and several hundred counter-protesters hurled abuse and chants at each other. The police, however, prevented the conflict from escalating.
The government expressed their opinion against the rallies and was quoted as saying that “there is no place for any type of hate in Australia”.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was quoted as saying by BBC: “There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion.”
“We stand with modern Australia against these rallies – nothing could be less Australian,” he said.
India factor
According to media reports, promotional materials used by March for Australia rally organisers mentioned Indian residents, with a flyer reading, as quoted by Hindustan Times: “More Indians in 5 years, than Greeks and Italians in 100… This isn’t a slight cultural change – it’s replacement plain and simple.”
