Chilling photographs have emerged of a toddler wearing a shirt with a Hezbollah flag printed across the front during a pro-Palestine rally.
The disturbing discovery was made during a demonstration in Sydney on Sunday.
A toddler was seen being held up by a protestor while another took a photo.
The toddler was wearing a black shirt with the worrying logo printed in yellow across it.
‘Long live the resistance,’ was written across the back in black and red letters.
Hezbollah is a political group from Lebanon that has been listed by Australian authorities as a terrorist organisation.
Its leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday.
Hezbollah flags and images of Nasrallah were a common sight at the protests that also unfolded in Melbourne over the weekend.
Chilling photographs have emerged of a toddler wearing a shirt with a Hezbollah flag printed across the front during a pro-Palestine rally
Hezbollah flags and images of Nasrallah were a common sight at the protests that also unfolded in Melbourne over the weekend
Liberal Senator James Patterson said the sight of Hezbollah flags at rallies in Melbourne and Sydney were ‘disturbing’ given it is designated by Australia as a terrorist organisation.
‘This is a clear contravention of 80.2HA of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. It’s time for police to enforce the law,’ he tweeted.
Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia they were ‘aware prohibited flags were seen at a demonstration in the Melbourne CBD’ on Sunday.
‘Victoria Police supports the right to protest peacefully and had a visible presence at the protest to ensure public safety,’ a spokesperson said.
‘An estimated 600 people attended the demonstration and there were no arrests.
‘Appropriate referrals will be made to Australian Federal Police as the lead agency concerning prohibited symbols.’
The group supporting Hezbollah were also heard chanting ‘labayka ya Nasrallah’ in Arabic, which translates roughly to ‘at your service, Nasrallah’.
Rally organisers in Melbourne told AAP the group carrying Hezbollah flags was not affiliated with those running the demonstration.
Rally organisers in Melbourne told AAP the group carrying Hezbollah flags was not affiliated with those running the demonstration
Islamic community leaders also said this group was not representative of the Muslim community in Australia or the protest, which was calling for Israel to stop military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, where they are fighting Hezbollah.
‘They are definitely a minority. An absolute, tiny minority,’ Islamic Council of Victoria’s president Adel Salman told The Australian.
‘For my own experience, my knowledge of the community, there is no support of Hezbollah, no love of Hezbollah, right now, this is all about support for the Lebanese people.
‘The community is concerned about the escalating violence, but our concern primarily is about what’s happening in Palestine, in Gaza, that’s still the main focus in the community.
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