Hate speech charge laid over banner at neo-Nazi rally
A man has been arrested after allegedly unveiling an antisemitic banner at a rally organised by prominent neo-Nazis outside a state parliament.
A rally orchestrated by prominent neo-Nazis outside the gates of NSW Parliament has resulted in a hate speech arrest nearly six months later.
Neo-Nazi rally outside NSW parliament (photo: X)
A group of 60 black-clad demonstrators gathered outside NSW Parliament on November 8, where they were allowed to assemble and chant Hitler Youth slogans. During the rally, a banner reading “Abolish the Jewish Lobby” was unveiled while two speeches were delivered by participants.
NSW Police were given a week’s notice about the neo-Nazi rally through a permit application but decided against taking the matter to court.
Officers arrested a 32-year-old man in South Penrith, in Sydney’s west, on Wednesday and charged him with publicly inciting hatred on the grounds of race.
Specialist counter-terrorism and security police conducted the investigation and made Wednesday’s arrest after seeking legal advice about the assembly and the content of the speeches, NSW Police said in a statement.
The 32-year-old was granted conditional bail and is due to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on June 3.
Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion on Tuesday that the decision by NSW Police to allow the rally was a “gross error of judgement”.
“Having a phalanx of neo-Nazis on Macquarie Street, where people are passing by,” Mr Wertheim told the commission.
“A person of colour could have passed by, a person wearing Jewish religious clothing or Muslim religious clothing.
“The risk to public safety that that would have constituted seemed to me to be a gross error of judgment.”
The arrest is not the first legal consequence faced by a participant in the rally.
South African national Matthew Gruter was identified as one of the participants in November and later had his visa cancelled by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
“Somebody who gets involved in neo-Nazism in Australia should not pretend they are somehow patriotic,” Mr Burke said after cancelling the visa.
Fellow neo-Nazi Joel Davis is facing charges after allegedly calling for the “rhetorical rape” of federal MP Allegra Spender following her denunciation of the rally and its organisers, the National Socialist Network.
The group claims to have disbanded since January, when the federal government launched a hate speech crackdown in the wake of the Bondi terrorist attack.
By: Tom Wark/AAP
