Two Palestinian Australian men say they were subjected to racist abuse on a Sydney train on the same day anti-immigration marches took place across Australian cities.
Film-makers Shamikh and Majed Badra told Guardian Australia they were verbally abused on a train on Sunday afternoon, allegedly because Majed was wearing a keffiyeh.
The brothers, who have had family killed in the war in Gaza and whose surviving family members in the occupied territory remain under bombardment, had attended a rally for Palestine in Sydney’s CBD, before boarding a train at Town Hall for Stanmore station.
The pair sat together on the lower deck of the train: Majed Badra wore a black-and-white keffiyeh, a garment not unique to, but strongly associated with, the Palestinian cause.
Within minutes, the pair claim they were subjected to unprompted verbal abuse from men on the train.
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“They were behind us, so we didn’t see them to begin with,” Shamikh Badra alleged. “But they just started abusing Majed, telling him to ‘take off your scarf’.”
Video of the incident shows the altercation and abuse escalating:
“If you want to fight for Palestine, go back there.”
“Get the fuck out of here. We don’t want you in our country.”
“We don’t want you here. Fuck off.”
“You want to get free money, you fucking loser cunt.”
The footage shows several of the men verbally lashing out in a threatening manner. At one point, an unidentified person off-screen shouts what sounds like a racial slur at one of the brothers: “Look at you, you monkey.”
Shamikh, a PhD student, said he initially tried to de-escalate the situation, urging the assailants to “sit down and we can talk”. But the tirade of abuse and threats continued, he said.
“I tried to stop this escalation, I tried to protect Majed but they kept trying to attack Majed and attack me physically – we tried to protect ourselves as best I can.”
Shamikh said they felt forced from their seats to the train station doors. In the video he responds shouting “racists” at the men and free Palestine.
Shamikh told Guardian Australia he understood the risks of speaking out about the attack but that he would not be cowed in the face of racism.
“They were so hostile towards us,” he said. “I looked at them and I couldn’t understand: why are they so aggressive? Why are they so angry? I have never seen these people before in my life – why do they hate us like that?
“This was an attack on our identity. Everyone has the right to be proud about their identity, their family, their history. We didn’t do anything.
“No one should feel unsafe because of who they are. And we should not be silent about this.”
The train was halted at Macdonaldtown station and all passengers ordered off. The Badra brothers reported the incident to police, providing video footage of the abuse.
A NSW police spokesperson said that “investigations into the incident are continuing”.
A Sydney Trains spokesperson said: “NSW police are investigating the matter and Sydney Trains security will assist that investigation”.
It’s not known if the alleged abusers on board the train had attended the anti-immigration rally which also marched in Sydney on Sunday afternoon.
‘March for Australia’ protests
Police estimated 15,000 people joined the so-called March for Australia: protesters chanted “send them back”, while members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network handed out leaflets saying “white Australia must organise” and led chants of “heil Australia”.
“If you go to a rally and the Nazis turn up, it’s not one you should be at,” the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said on Monday, “and no one can deny that they were there. No one can deny that racist language was used.”
Twelve people were arrested following Victoria’s anti-immigration march, attended by about 5,000 people. An Indigenous camp in the Kings Domain was also stormed by neo-Nazis.
On Tuesday morning, the self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell crashed a press conference held by the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, yelling “you’re a coward and we’re going to take this country back”.
Allan later responded she would not be intimidated by Nazi “goons”.
Shamikh and Majed are Palestinian Australian film-makers who produced a documentary, Gaza Nippers, about a surf lifesaving program for children in Gaza, supported by Australian surf clubs.
The Gaza surf club has been forced to suspend its operations. At least seven nippers and club supporters have been killed in the the current war.
