SYDNEY
\nThousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country on Sunday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. March for Australia rallies against immigration were held in Sydney and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group\u2019s website.
\n\u201cMass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,\u201d the website says. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do \u201cwhat the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.\u201d
\nThe group also says it is concerned about culture, wages, traffic, housing and water supply, environmental destruction, infrastructure, hospitals, crime and loss of community.
\nAustralia \u2013 where one in two people is either born overseas or has a parent born overseas \u2013 has been grappling with a rise in right-wing extremism, including protests by neo-Nazis.
\n\u201cWe absolutely condemn the March for Australia rally that\u2019s going on today. It is not about increasing social harmony,\u201d Murray Watt, a senior minister in the Labor government, told Sky News television, when asked about the rally in Sydney, the country\u2019s most-populous city.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t support rallies like this that are about spreading hate and that are about dividing our community,\u201d Watt said, asserting they were \u201corganized and promoted\u201d by neo-Nazi groups. March for Australia organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the neo-Nazi claims.
\nLaws banning the Nazi salute and the display or sale of symbols associated with terror groups came into effect in Australia this year in response to a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars since the beginning of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza in October 2023.
\nCounter-protesters express \u2018disgust, anger\u2019
\nSome 5,000 to 8,000 people, many draped in Australian flags, had assembled for the Sydney rally, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. It was held near the course of the Sydney Marathon, where 35,000 runners pounded the streets on Sunday, finishing at the city\u2019s Opera House.
\nAlso nearby, a counter-rally by the Refugee Action Coalition, a community activist organization, took place. \u201cOur event shows the depth of disgust and anger about the far-right agenda of March For Australia,\u201d a coalition spokesperson said in a statement. Organizers said hundreds attended that event.
\nPolice said hundreds of officers were deployed across Sydney in an operation that ended \u201cwith no significant incidents.\u201d
\nA large March for Australia rally was held in central Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state, according to aerial footage from the ABC, which reported that riot officers used pepper spray on demonstrators. Victoria Police did not confirm the report but said it would provide details on the protest later on Sunday.
\nBob Katter, the leader of a small populist party, attended a March for Australia rally in Queensland, a party spokesperson said, three days after the veteran lawmaker threatened a reporter for mentioning Katter\u2019s Lebanese heritage at a press conference when the topic of his attendance at a March for Australia event was being discussed.
\nKatter was \u201cswarmed with hundreds of supporters\u201d at the rally in Townsville, Brisbane\u2019s Courier-Mail reported.
\nIn Sydney, March for Australia protester Glenn Allchin said he wanted a \u201cslowdown\u201d in immigration.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s about our country bursting at the seams and our government bringing more and more people in,\u201d Allchin said. \u201cOur kids struggling to get homes, our hospitals \u2013 we have to wait seven hours \u2013 our roads, the lack of roads.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYDNEY Thousands of Australians joined anti-immigration rallies across the country on Sunday that the center-left government condemned, saying they sought to spread hate and were linked to neo-Nazis. March for Australia rallies against immigration were held in Sydney and other state capitals and regional centers, according to the group\u2019s website. \u201cMass migration has torn at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-500295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n