Anti-Nazi protesters have faced a wall of police in front of a Melbourne court as they gathered to chant against the actions of a far-right group’s leader.
The placard-holding objectors were chanting against the accused, who is in court for allegedly offending Muslims during a rally against a mosque.
Public order response team police formed a barrier outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court as protesters gathered outside, bearing anti-Nazi placards, on Monday morning.
‘Racists, sexists, anti-queer, Nazis are not welcome here,’ the protesters chanted.
When the men were previously due to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court in March, a group of anti-racism protesters assembled outside chanting: ‘Muslims are welcome, racists are not’
Neil Erikson, 32, is seen outside the Magistrates Court in Melbourne clashing against protesters
United Patriots Front (UPF) leader Blair Cottrell (pictured), 35, is accused of defacing a footpath and garden bed wall at the Bendigo council offices, willful damage, making a video aiming to incite contempt for Muslims, and behaving in an offensive manner
One woman’s sign read: ‘I am German. We have seen this before.’
United Patriots Front (UPF) leader Blair Cottrell, 35, and supporters Neil Erikson, 32, and Christopher Neil Shortis, 46, are due in court to face charges under Victorian racial vilification laws after a mock beheading of an effigy at Bendigo in 2015.
The trio is accused of defacing a footpath and garden bed wall at the Bendigo council offices, willful damage, making a video aiming to incite contempt for Muslims, and behaving in an offensive manner.
The UPF has previously called for donations to cover Cottrell’s court costs for what it called an ‘unprecedented battle for free speech’
The UPF describes itself as a ‘patriotic street movement’, and opposes Islamic immigration and the building of mosques
One woman’s sign read: ‘I am German. We have seen this before’ with a cross through a Nazi symbol
When the men were previously due to appear before the Melbourne Magistrates Court in March, a group of anti-racism protesters assembled outside chanting: ‘Muslims are welcome, racists are not.’
The UPF has previously called for donations to cover Cottrell’s court costs for what it called an ‘unprecedented battle for free speech.’
The UPF describes itself as a ‘patriotic street movement’, and opposes Islamic immigration and the building of mosques.