Image: Mike Tsikas, AAP
by GRACE JOHNSON
The Prime Minister and NSW Premier have condemned the rise of neo-Nazi activity in Sydney, following an incident on January 26 when a group of 60 men wearing balaclavas boarded a Sydney train brandishing Australian flags.
“I don’t want to see people in balaclavas dressed in black from head to toe who are engaged in Neo-Nazi activity in this country,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese when asked about it on Saturday.
“It has no place, and it is rightly being condemned by all decent people.”
Mr Albanese said there had been a rise in “Neo-Nazi activity and extreme right-wing activity” in Australia in recent times.
In addition, NSW Premier Chris Minns condemned an attempted rally organised by a smaller group of self-declared neo-Nazis, which took place Sunday morning.
20 men masked and black-clad men gathered at Artarmon Reserve at about 9am, two days after Australia Day events and Invasion Day rallies.
Minns described the men as “pathetic”, saying they are “importing hate into New South Wales”.
“This is obviously distressing for many people to see this fascist, ridiculous behaviour on New South Wales streets,” he said.
The attempted neo-Nazi rally on Sunday morning came just a day after the International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January.
Police moved them on, and the group had left by 10:30am.
The premier also reiterated his commitment to changing the state’s anti-vilification laws to outlaw the Nazi salute and associated symbols.
“We are looking at the laws and examining them to make sure that overt Nazi gestures and symbols are outlawed in New South Wales, and we’ll make sure that the people of New South Wales are safe and we protect the tenants of our multicultural, harmonious community,” he said.
The premier introduced new religious vilification laws in November, coinciding with rising tensions across Sydney as the war in Gaza wages on.
