Firey protests hit Sydney CBD

By Lauren O’Connor

A protest against Sharia law and the perceived ‘Islamification’ of Australia took place last Saturday at Sydney’s Martin Place.

A counter-rally was held nearby at Queen’s Square accusing the organisers of the original anti-Islam rally, Reclaim Australia of being racist, xenophobic and linked to neo-nazi groups.

The two groups came close to a confrontation.

Meanwhile in Melbourne similar protests led to violent clashes and serious injuries.

City Hub spoke with Sherman Burgess, a supporter of the Reclaim Australia rally and an online personality who calls himself the ‘Great Aussie Patriot.’

A truck driver from Canberra, Mr Burgess creates anti-Islamic videos for his Facebook and YouTube audiences.

He said the public was confused about the purpose of Reclaim Australia; that it was not a white-supremacist movement and was against “elements of Islam, not all Muslims.”

“We’re not white Australians, we’re Australians of all different skin colours. My mother moved here from New Zealand when she was 23. I’m a product of multi-culturalism,” he said.

In an online video Mr Burgess compares Islam to cancer.

“Many other countries have a worse Islamic problem than we do, however their biggest problem was not getting on top of it early,” he said.

He is part of a band called the ‘Eureka Brigade’, whose songs advocate the killing of refugees and defecation on mosques. Following the demonstrations Mr Burgess posted a video wearing a crucifix, saying “you can’t beat us, we’ve got God on our side.”

Organiser of the counter-rally Penny Howard said it was unacceptable that Reclaim Australia’s message be reported without an opposition.

“We called our demonstration in response to them basically because we didn’t want those views to go out into the media without someone standing up and saying ‘that’s wrong,’” she said.

“When that gets repeated over and over on the TV and the radio it makes their fringe views appear much more mainstream.”

She claimed the group has a close association with neo-nazi groups in Australia and Europe but has marketed itself as being politically moderate to gain followers.

“They are linked to an organisation called the Australian Defence League (ADL) which has threatened to bomb mosques and kill clerics.”

Following the Lindt Cafe siege last year, Lakemba and Auburn Gallipoli Mosques were vandalised and the Grand Mufti of Australia were sent threatening letters by the ADL.

“They’re known to have links to a far right organisation called Pegida in Germany, [whose]leader was recently disgraced because he posed as Hitler,” Ms Howard said.

She told City Hub demonstrations organised by the ADL typically have low attendance rates but she was disappointed to see a relatively large turnout on Easter Saturday.

“Clearly they are better organised. They’ve got a lot more people out this time possibly because of the broader political climate and maybe because they’ve marketed themselves as being more respectable,” she said.
Kuranda Seyit told the counter-rally that attacks on Australian Muslims were becoming more common as a direct reaction to the political climate.

“September 11 is a clear example of that. We had a spike in Islamophobia. We had anti-Islamic rhetoric coming from various governments and they were trying to blame Muslims for the actions of criminals. Those people trying to hijack that message will get drowned out eventually,” he said.

“Because I work in a Muslim organisation we get lots of reports about Muslims being attacked or assaulted or mosques being graffitied, I see it all the time.”