by Sahar Foladi
A right-wing extremist attack in Melbourne CBD on refugee protesters will not “intimidate” the group from a “targeted action” pro-refugee campaign in November.
The fight for their “basic rights” will continue despite being confronted by an offensive banner and white-supremacist slogans by men described as ‘neo-Nazis’ on Tuesday 22 October.
About 20 to 25 men wearing balaclavas, sunglasses and face coverings came prepared to gatecrash the peaceful protest marking the 100 and final days of the 24/7 encampment.
Aran Mylvaganam from Tamil Refugee Council based in the South East was at the “well-attended” protest which was also supposed to be a celebration for reaching such a milestone.
“It was a self-organised (protest encampment) by refugees and they were able to maintain their energy throughout the 100 days.
“I heard them chant ‘Hail Victory, White power, Australia for white men’ and they had a big banner which read ‘F**** Off We’re full.”
Victoria Police used capsicum spray and pushed the men back to maintain peace.
“It’s horrifying to see them use us to carry their propaganda and build their network when we’re fighting for our basic rights,” Mr Mylvaganam said.
“We came to this country 12-15 years ago fleeing genocide and it’s often men like these terrifying us in our countries.
“Now we have Australian born children with deep community connection and we’re still fighting for basic rights.
“Instead of the government resolving our issue we have Neo-Nazi men trying to intimidate us and stop us from expressing our political view.”
Unfortunately, this is not the first or the last time that the encampment had been attacked throughout the past 100 days.
Mr Mylvaganam himself was attacked by two young males during one of the protests in Melbourne leaving him with a dislocated shoulder.
“It’s been quite a challenging period for refugees to express their political view without coming under attack by the racists.
“We maintained the energy throughout and the event went ahead without any further disruptions.
“It was a beautiful moment to see hundreds of refugees and supporters drowning to any racist slurs by the Neo-Nazis.”
There have been many more attacks throughout the country against the national protest, and multiple in Dandenong including knife-wielding incidents on the group outside Bruce MP Julian Hill’s office.
Mr Mylvaganam repudiates the argument that refugees and immigrants are responsible for the cost of living or housing crisis in the country.
“The first time the Neo-Nazis turned up to our encampment, it was on the back of (Federal Opposition Leader) Peter Dutton saying this country has a housing crisis because of refugees and migrants.
“The comments from … politicians play a huge role for refugees getting the blame for the social issue in this country.
“It is the greed of a tiny minority and inaction of our politicians that has left to years of neglect and led to these issues.”
Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman says the “appearance of neo-Nazis” is concerning but not “surprising.”
“When we have decades of media and political rhetoric that dehumanise people seeking asylum it gives rise to protests like this.
“More broadly this extremism is what happens when we refuse to name and confront the extent of racism engrained in our society.
“Chanting racist slogans and displaying offensive banners near a peaceful encampment of people calling for permanent visas is an act of hate. It also directly assaults the dignity, equity and respect that people exercising their right to asylum deserve,” he said.
“These types of hate-fuelled actions are deeply damaging and pose a serious risk to the safety of all people, particularly those from refugee and migrant backgrounds. We must confront the reality that racism continues to manifest in aggressive and dangerous ways, as was on full display on Tuesday.”
In light of such controversies against refugees in the country, Mr Mylvaganam says a Dutton Government is a “death sentence” to refugees.
“We’re worried and desperate that’s why we’re escalating our campaign.
“We want them (PM Anthony Albanese, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and Assistant Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Julian Hill) to take our demand seriously and let these people rebuild their lives.”
Planned “targeted actions” will be carried out in November which will include a rally, action in front of the Parliament House, information stalls for people to sign pro-refugee petitions and local actions will include rallying outside Labor MPs’ offices to “pressurise them to speak” in support of the refugees.
All it takes is a “signature from the Minister” for the 8400 asylum-seekers said to have been “failed by the fast tracking system.”
“We’re happy with what we have achieved.
“We think we have achieved what we could through the encampment which is raising awareness of the situation of the 8400 people failed by the system.”
