Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned anti-Indigenous rights protesters who disrupted two Anzac Day dawn services on Friday as hundreds of thousands gathered across the nation to commemorate their war dead.
“The disruption of Anzac Day is beyond contempt and the people responsible must face the full force of the law,” Albanese told reporters.
“This was an act of low cowardice on a day when we honour courage and sacrifice,” he added.
The protests come during a heightened political atmosphere ahead of general elections on May 3 in which Indigenous rights are a campaign issue.
April 25, 1915 was the day when the newly-formed Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, in northwest Turkiye, in an ill-fated campaign that was the soldiers’ first combat of World War I.
It is considered Australia’s most unifying national holiday and a sacred day when political point-scoring and protest are generally avoided.
Protesters disrupt dawn services in Melbourne and Perth
A group of hecklers including self-described Nazi Jacob Hersant booed and jeered during a dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne where 50,000 gathered.
In Perth, a lone man yelled briefly during a dawn service at Kings Park before the 25,000 people who surrounded him persuaded him to stay silent, a police statement said. The man left soon after.
The disruptions were triggered in both cities by the so-called Welcome to Country ceremony, which is held at the outset of many Australian public events in which Indigenous leaders welcome visitors to their traditional land.
The Melbourne-based First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, an Indigenous advocacy group, said in a statement it “strongly condemns the racist attack during the Welcome to Country” in Melbourne.
Prime minister labels protests “disgrace”
Albanese said the disruptions in both Melbourne and Perth were a “disgrace”.
“There is no place in Australia for what occurred,” Albanese said.
In Melbourne, the interruptions continued after the Welcome to Country at any mention by speakers of Indigenous soldiers or traditional owners of Australia.
Hecklers yelled “this is our country” and “we don’t have to be welcomed”, echoing a slogan of the minor party Trumpet of Patriots. The party’s extensive advertising is funded by mining magnate Clive Palmer and party officials say they are inspired by US President Donald Trump’s policies.
The hecklers were drowned out by the applause of others who urged the speakers to continue.
Lawmakers in the opposition conservative Liberal Party have complained that Welcome to Country ceremonies have become too prevalent and cost the centre-left Labour Party government 452,953 Australian dollars (USD 289,602) over two years.
Opposition leader defends Indigenous ceremony
But opposition leader Peter Dutton on Friday defended the place of such Indigenous ceremonies on Anzac Day.
“Welcome to Country is an important part of official ceremonies and it should be respected. I don’t agree with the booing and I don’t agree, in our democracy, that people can’t accept the views of others,” Dutton told reporters.
“We have a proud Indigenous heritage in this country and we should be proud to celebrate it as part of today.”
Police were seen escorting Hersant away from the Melbourne service. Hersant is a leader of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network and last year became the first person in Australia to be sentenced to prison for performing an outlawed Nazi salute.
He remains free on bail because his appeal against a one-month prison sentence has yet to be heard.
“They want to humiliate us over and over again,” Hersant told reporters before police led him away, referring to Indigenous leaders.
Hersant’s lawyer did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment on Friday.
Victoria and Western Australia state police respond
Victoria Police confirmed a 26-year-old Melbourne man had been directed to leave the service. They did not confirm the suspect’s identity in accordance with its usual policy.
The suspect had been interviewed over an allegation of offensive behaviour and would be issued a summons to appear in court, a police statement said.
Video showed at least one other protester repeating a white supremacist slogan being dragged away from the service by a member of the public.
Western Australia Police Force said the Perth service disruption remained under investigation.
“The Anzac Day service is a solemn commemoration and any disorderly behaviour at such commemorations will not be tolerated by police,” a police statement said.
