Rallies against racism ‘displayed hope’

September 2, 2025

Issue

'Freedom not fascism', anti-racist counter protest to the 'March for Australia' in Magan-djin/Brisba

Anti-racist counter-protest to the far-right-organised ‘March for Australia’ in Magan-djin/Brisbane, August 31. Photo: Alex Bainbridge

Counterprotests were organised across the country to the far-right March for Australia rallies on August 31. In Naarm/Melbourne and Gadigal Country/Sydney, Stop the Genocide, Stand up to Racism and Fascism rallies were organised.

Thousands attended the racist mobilisations, which anti-racist social media activist Tom Tanuki told һƷ̽�� were organised on a “slippery” platform. He said the rallies were billed as being about “mass immigration but actually a lot of the people there agree with the neo-Nazis, who originally organised it”.

“Half the point of them was for [these rallies] to be a blank canvas for neo-Nazis to show up and be welcomed, which is exactly what happened. “There were only about 10–15 neo-Nazis here in Brisbane, but in Sydney they led the march!”

In Naarm, far-right social media content creator Avi Yemini was assaulted and kicked out of the far-right rally for not being white enough. Neo-Nazis they are “proud to be racist”.

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Anti-racist protesters face off against police, Naarm/Melbourne. Photo: Chloe DS

Jordan AK reported that thousands gathered at the State Library for a Pro-Palestine, anti-fascist demonstration in Naarm, which was a combination of the weekly Palestine rally and a counter-protest called against the racist anti-immigration March for Australia.

First Nations, refugee, Jewish, Black and Palestinian community speakers addressed the rally.

Refugee rights activist Aran Mylvaganam told the crowd that racism is useful for the major parties: “Blaming migrants distracts from their inability to deliver higher wages, affordable housing and decent services. It keeps the bosses happy, while workers are told to blame each other.”

Meanwhile, outside Flinders Street station, up to 5000 people gathered for the March for Australia. The crowd carried Australian flags and placards bearing anti-immigration, racist and white supremacist slogans. They amplified the major parties’ shameful and erroneous attempts to blame migrants and refugees for the housing affordability crisis.

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‘Migrants are welcome’, Naarm/Melbourne. Photo: Chloe DS

Although police attempted to keep the two marches separate, there were multiple incidents where March for Australia protesters entered the pro-Palestine march and instigated brawls. The marches eventually met at the corner of Collins and Elizabeth Streets.

Riot police used capsicum spray and beanbag rounds against protesters from both rallies, although disproportionately against the pro-Palestine supporters.

March for Australia organisers denied connections with far-right and neo-Nazi organisations, but Tom Sewell, a prominent leader of the far-right National Socialist Network (NSN), spoke at parliament for them. NSN members later attacked Camp Sovereignty, leaving many people injured, including a woman who was rushed to hospital.

Camp Sovereignty is a sacred place maintained by First Peoples. Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has an investigation into the attack as a hate crime.

The attackers stormed the hill at 5.05pm, punching, kicking and swinging weapons at community members, targeting women. Four people required medical treatment, including one with critical head injuries. The group also stole Aboriginal flags and was seen destroying them.

Thorpe said when Victoria Police arrived, the group walked away freely. Police did not appear to attempt any arrests or to question the perpetrators.

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Wangerriburra and Birri Gubba activist Sam Watson opened the Magan-djin/Brisbane anti-racist counter-protest describing one of the organisers of the far-right rally, who is the “son of a property-developing mogul who just develops and keeps heaps of empty houses to drive the price up”.

Watson said it is a “ridiculous notion” to blame immigrants for driving up house prices. “It is not; it is absolutely not [migrants]; it is billionaires.”

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Sam Watson speaking in Magan-djin/Brisbane. Photo: Alex Bainbridge

“It’s the people over there [at the far-right rally] who don’t want to blame billionaires, and the politicians who support the mega-rich and the wealthy,” Watson told the anti-racist rally. “They want to blame the people who come here trying to make a better life for their family.”

“I get that people have genuine concerns about the cost of living and housing, but to blame immigrants is nothing more than racism.”

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‘I stand with freedom fighters’, Gadigal Country/Sydney. Photo: Peter Boyle

Thousands marched for solidarity and against genocide through the centre of Gadigal Country. “At the other end of town was a so-called ‘March for Australia’, which was pushing the racist divide-and-rule poison that only helps the filthy rich get even richer,” Socialist Alliance member Peter Boyle said. “Our rally was a great turnout, despite messages sent to people in many migrant communities to stay out of the city, supposedly for their own safety.”

Dave B told һƷ̽�� that there were thousands at the racist rally, including One Nation members, the neo-Nazi NSN and right-wing libertarians.

organised a counter-protest at Prince Alfred Park, which was supported by Pride in Protest, Action for Public Housing and Rock against Racism. After hearing several speakers and playing music, activists marched to join the Palestine rally in the CBD.

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‘Hope not hate’ in nipaluna/Hobart. Photo: Jenny Forward

Socialist Alliance (SA) in nipaluna/Hobart helped organise the “Hope not Hate” counter rally. SA member Solomon Doyle that it is a “strange and pervasive irony” that “a country built upon colonial invasion, forced migration, genocide, and the endless circulation of global capital, could now be the same country staging anti-immigration protests, draped in the language of protecting ‘white Australian identity’.

“We will not blame migrants for the housing crisis. We will not blame refugees for poverty wages. We will not blame people of colour for the failures of governments and corporations,” Doyle said. “We know the true enemy, and it does not march in the streets with us, it sits in boardrooms, it governs from parliaments, it hides behind wealth.”

The racist “March for Australia” protesters tried to confront the counter-protest. Despite police blocking their way, protesters on the far-right side pushed, spat at and yelled racial slurs towards the anti-racist activists who responded with “Say it loud, say it clear, migrants are welcome here!” and “Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land!”.

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Mulubinba/Newcastle counter-protest against racism. Photo supplied

The anti-racist rally in Muloobimba/Newcastle, organised by Food Not Bombs, involved 100 anti-racist protesters facing off against 400 March for Australia attendees, Steve O’Brien reported.

Markela Panegyres reported from Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide that thousands attended the anti-immigration march. About 100–150 attended the anti-racist protest, many wearing keffiyehs and holding signs saying “Immigrants welcome here”.

Anti-racist protesters in Magan-djin/Brisbane were also outnumbered by the racist side, but several participants told that, compared to the massive pro-Palestine rallies one week previously. “The numbers on the Nazi side don’t add up” and “we’re on the winning side”, they said.

Tanuki said “they numbered in their thousands today, we had a few hundred legends” but “I’ll forever be proud that I showed up and I’m going to continue to show up”.

While the national March for Australia protest showed the dangers posed by a more organised far right, the counter-protests and weekly huge pro-Palestine protests show significant numbers are not swayed by racists wanting to blame societal problems, caused by bad policies, on particular ethnic groups.