Inside Christian Lives Matter group that sparked violence at Mark Latham transgender speech

The leader of a militant Christian group that violently clashed with LGBTQI+ activists claims they are peaceful, even as members call for violence against protestors.

Christians Lives Matter promoted a speech by Mark Latham at St Michaels church in Belfield, southwest Sydney, on Tuesday night.

But chaos erupted outside before the One Nation MP even took the stage as about 15 protesters from Community Action for Rainbow Rights assembled outside.

The activists were surrounded by more than 600 of the CLM followers, who police said threw rocks and bottles at them and officers who tried to separate them.

CLM leader Charlie Bakhos insisted his group didn’t condone violence and didn’t go to the event spoiling for a fight, instead blaming CARR.

‘The unauthorised anti-Christian, anti-children protesters who have been threatening all week to come to the churches have scared so many people with their attacks. They didn’t come peacefully,’ he said.

‘They came last week and they came last night – threatening Christians, threatening children.

‘They came to the churches with these placards mocking faith, mocking god, mocking priests, mocking Catholic people… they came to the suburbs to attack the community.’

Mr Bakhos showed one of the placards that read ‘Catholic priest groomers’.

Social media promotion for the rally that only 15 activists turned up to, and were violently confronted by CLM followers

Mr Bakhos showed one of the placards the protesters carried that read ‘Catholic priest groomers’

However, another prominent member of the group, Christian Sukkar, posted a video before the event where he allegedly encouraged violence.

‘There is only one way, and that is to grab them, and you drag them by their f**king hair, and you f**king get ’em out of there,’ he said.

Mr Sukkar said anyone who just wanted to pray the rosary should go to the organised vigil and do so, but the ‘real boys’ should attack the activists.

‘Go there tomorrow and you f**king shake them up and you drag them by their f**king head and you remove them from St Michael’s Field,’ he said.

‘Time to rise. Time to let them know where we stand.’

Mr Sukkar has since deleted his social media accounts and was charged with encouraging the commission of crimes. 

Christian Sukkar fired back at hundreds of LGBTQI activists as they shouted ‘George Pell, go to hell’ and called the late cardinal a paedophile across the street from St Mary’s Cathedral during George Pell’s funeral

The heavily tattooed father-of-two frequently attends similar rallies and allegedly screamed at protesters outside Cardinal George Pell’s funeral on February 2.

He clashed with a protester who confronted him about cutting ribbons in tribute to survivors of sexual abuse by clergy off the St Mary’s Cathedral fence the night before. 

He asked if she had ‘looked in the mirror’ and ‘are you a dyke?’ – a homophobic slur typically used against lesbians.

‘I do not respond to dykes so please move, you’re a dyke, that’s not hate speech. Go film your own people, you are not welcome here, go take your f**king sign off, get your people to move, they can go f**k themselves,’ he yelled.

Shocking footage of Tuesday’s protest showed a woman being punched in the head with a man filming the chaos pushed to the ground and surrounded by CLM.

A constable was taken to hospital after his hand was injured by a projectile, and a 38-year-old man was assaulted.

A 41-year-old man has been charged with assault.

Mr Sukkar is outspoken about his faith on social media, and expressed strong feelings towards gay people during the same-sex marriage debate

Other CLM members also justified violence against protesters as defending children against supposed transgender ideology enabled by a ‘leftist government’.

‘They’re rocking up in your back yard and when your Christian brothers pushed back ONE TIME you turn on them? Fight for your kids [with] ANY means necessary,’ one wrote in one of CLM’s WhatsApp groups.

‘It’s like if you back a dog into a corner sooner or later it will bite.’

However, another CLM organiser, Charlie Taouk, said footage of the chaos gave the group a bad name.

‘This is not what we are standing for. I don’t care if they pedophiles [sic] or gay or even a tree, we can’t be violent it’s only hurting us and making them look like victims,’ he wrote.

Mr Bakhos started CLM at least five years ago and initially gained a following during the gay marriage debate ahead of the 2017 plebiscite.

His group latches on to even the smallest controversy to accuse opponents of ‘mocking god’ and persecuting Christians.

One of the earlier protests was against a mural by Scott Marsh depicting openly gay singer George Michael as a saint after his death in 2016.

Mr Bakhos posted a video of former Finks bikie Benjamin Gittany painting over it. Gittany was fined for vandalism and later jailed for drug crimes.

During the World Pride festival, he railed against two other murals that were defaced soon after, again celebrating their destruction.

CLM was also behind a campaign that led to radio star Kyle Sandilands making a grovelling apology for joking the Virgin Mary was a ‘liar’ who got ‘knocked up behind a camel shed’ in 2019.

More recently, Mr Bakhos confronted a model dressed as a ‘sexy nun’ during a photoshoot outside St Mary’s Cathedral, yelling at them until they left and the photographer deleted the images.

But the group’s greatest exposure came after a comedian made a controversial joke about Jesus on The Project on February 28. 

Reuben Kaye joked: ‘I love Jesus, I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more.’

CLM responded by picketing Channel 10’s headquarters and days later marched through Newtown loudly reciting the Catholic rosary.

Drinkers at the Bank Hotel, along the march route, claimed they were attacked through the pub window when they objected to having popcorn thrown at them.

The group has grown to 26,000 members on Facebook and 18,300 on Instagram in the aftermath of the controversy. 

Mr Bakhos confronted a model dressed as a ‘sexy nun’ during a photoshoot outside St Mary’s Cathedral, yelling at them until they left and the photographer delated the images 

CARR called Tuesday night a ‘brutal attack on peaceful protesters, who literally didn’t say a single word to the far right mob before they were attacked’.

‘[It] should make it clear that Christian Lives Matter is a violent fascistic hate group supported by One Nation and Mark Latham who did nothing to stop the wave of violent attacks carried out in his name,’ it said.

Mr Latham said both sides should sort out their differences at the ballot box at Saturday’s NSW election.

‘The police told me there had been violence on the front street, so I thoroughly condemned that and urged everyone to disperse peacefully,’ he posted to Twitter.

‘I didn’t see what happened on the front street but I sincerely convey my best wishes to those injured and thank the police officers involved for their work. No one should take the law into their own hands. Violence at political events is wrong.’