The ringleader of a Rockhampton mob that surrounded the home of an Indigenous teenager on Sunday was previously the national leader of a far-right “patriots” group, which regularly published anti-Islam content online.
Torin O’Brien, a former One Nation candidate, posted the names and photographs of the two Aboriginal young people, believed to be teenagers, on Facebook last week and called for locals to attend their address on Sunday.
About 30 people attended the property, some knocking on windows and calling for the occupants to come outside. One person fled out the back door and was chased by members of the crowd. Police stood guard outside the property after arriving at the home.
Concerns about vigilantism in Queensland are growing amid heightened community sentiment about youth crime.
Media reports about the Sunday incident were largely sympathetic to the group, including one referring to them as “anti-crime crusaders”.
Andy Fleming, an antifascist researcher said O’Brien had been the national president of the Patriots Defence League, an anti-Islam group that was deregistered as an incorporated association in 2015 after it was claimed to be a domestic violence group.
The group’s Facebook page, dating back to when O’Brien was involved, shows pictures of him wearing clothing with the group’s logo.
Social media posts from the Patriots Defence League also refer to Muslims as “terrorist scum”, “rats” and “filthy”.
On Facebook last week, O’Brien referred to an Aboriginal teen girl as “filth”.
Members of a Facebook group – started by O’Brien for the purpose of arranging community members to attend the homes of young people suspected of crimes – have denied in posts they are motivated by racism.
O’Brien did not respond to requests for comment.
He claimed on Facebook on Monday that he had been invited to a meeting with police, the local MP, Barry O’Rourke, and youth justice workers.
Police said they would “continue to liaise with the organiser of the group and take action based on those conversations”.
The state’s police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, told reporters in Cairns on Monday she had been briefed about the Rockhampton incident.
“I ask that people really consider not taking on vigilante actions.
“Some of the information is quite wrong … the stuff on social media is pure speculation. What we have is a group of people going to people’s houses for this issue, and the information is wrong.
“So be careful. What we’ll end up with is a death. We’ve seen that before. What you see on social media is not evidence and the people feeding this don’t have the skills or the knowledge or the information that police have in doing their jobs.”
