Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan halted a scheduled press conference in West Melbourne after Thomas Sewell, leader of the National Socialist Network, arrived unexpectedly and began shouting accusations in front of cameras and journalists.
Sewell called Allan a “coward” and yelled claims that the Allan Government wanted to ban the right to protest. There is no proposal in Parliament to ban the right to protest.
He also cited exaggerated crowd numbers from a recent anti-immigration rally, inaccurately stating that 50,000 people had attended the event. Victoria Police told PEDESTRIAN.TV that the crowd size of the ‘March for Australia’ was 3,000.
Sewell told media that his presence at the press conference was coincidental and that he was en route to court, facing charges for intimidating a police officer and breaching an intervention order.
His appearance followed his involvement at the weekend’s rally, where he promoted white supremacist views from the steps of Parliament and was later seen at a violent attack on Camp Sovereignty, a First Nations protest camp. Four people were injured in that incident and there are currently calls from Indigenous community leaders to investigate the situation as a hate crime.
Following today’s press conference, Sewell shouted “Heil Australia” as he departed.
Premier Allan released a statement describing herself as “unharmed and undeterred” after the morning’s events.
“It comes as no surprise that Nazis oppose me and my Government. I wear that with a badge of honour,” the statement read.
“But this isn’t about me. It’s about all the other people in the community who Nazis target – like multicultural people, LGBTIQA+ people, First Peoples, and Jews.”
She continued, “We know how these goons operate. They whip up fear to divide our society. They will fail.”
Allan went on to mention the upcoming changes to controversial anti-vilification laws, including the ban of flags featuring symbols of known terrorist groups and mask-wearing at public protests in Victoria.
The government and federal ministers have labelled the recent protests as hate-driven, with Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly describing the rallies as being exploited by far-right groups and stating to ABC Radio, “They weren’t protesting immigration from white Western countries”.
Lead image: ABC News
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