The far-right group United Patriots Front will return to Bendigo, Victoria, in three weeks, the group’s leader, Sherman Burgess, has threatened.
About 300 protesters took over central Bendigo last Saturday, lashing out against a legal decision by the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal to approve construction of Bendigo’s first mosque.
“If this video gets 1,000 shares, I’ll get all my UPF boys, and in three weeks’ time, march back right back into Bendigo again,” Burgess said in a video posted to the group’s Facebook page. “And this time, I will be in Bendigo with them.”
In a subsequent video, Blair Cottrell, another spokesman for the group, confirmed the UPF would be returning to Bendigo, as the target had been met.
The group claims the mosque will bring more Muslim immigrants into Bendigo, as a first step to sharia law.
Commenting on the prospect of another anti-mosque rally, Peter Cox, the city’s mayor, said: “We can do without that kind of publicity, but it just strengthens our resolve to get the mosque built.
“They are using this as a political game. They drape themselves in the Australian flag yet they are not willing uphold the Australian constitution in terms of freedom of religion and beliefs.”
“I think the very small local group [of mosque opponents] is being used by the national organisation. It’s a political campaign of no real substance.”
Cox has released a factsheet to counter some of the claims made by the anti-mosque group. He said the litigants against the mosque had until Thursday to appeal their case to the supreme court.
Kim Vuga, from the SBS program Go Back to Where You Came From, spoke at the rally. “It’s not radical Islam but Islam itself that’s a problem,” Vuga said. “We are already living with the enemy and, yes, we are under attack.”
Keysar Trad, spokesman for the Islamic Friendship Association of Australia, said: “These people are talking about issues they don’t understand. If I was to ask any of them what the word sharia meant I don’t think any of them would know.”
The Melbourne-based group No Room for Racism launched a counter-rally in response, turning up in roughly equal numbers to the anti-mosque group.
Many members of Saturday’s anti-mosque protest had travelled from interstate. When speakers at the protest asked who was local, many raised their hands.
But locals interviewed on the morning of Saturday’s rally were largely supportive of the mosque. They expressed concern at the impact of the rallies on Bendigo’s businesses and reputation.
Businesses have been particularly affected by the rallies. During Saturday’s rally, many were forced to close or reported lost trade.
Steven Blundell, the president of the Bendigo Traders Association, said businesses would suffer further if the anti-mosque group returned.
James Jupp, from the Australian National University, said mosque protests were common and anti-Islamic groups such as the UPF had become more prominent in the past few years. But he said such groups tended to be fragmented and struggled to maintain momentum.
“There’s a lot of angry people in these things and they don’t get on with each other,” he said. “If they don’t find a significant leader or individual, things tend to fall apart.”
