Man, 64, charged over alleged assault of pro-Palestine protesters at Franklin Apartments in Adelaide

A group of six people wearing Palestinian keffiyehs say they have been left traumatised after an ugly racially charged incident at an Adelaide hotel. Watch it here.

A group of six friends say they have been traumatised by “a violent Islamophobic attack” at a CBD hotel, where they claim a man called them “Muslim terrorists” and threatened to kill them.

The group of friends travelled from Sydney to take part in a peaceful picket protesting the federal government’s response to the Israel-Gaza war in front of Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s Adelaide office on Saturday, July 6.

Arlo, one of the alleged victims, said the friends had just returned to their accommodation at the Franklin Apartments in the city when a man followed them into the lift and launched an attack on the group.

A Victorian man has been charged with assault over the ugly incident at a CBD hotel on July 6. Picture: Supplied

Five pro-Palestine protesters suffered minor injuries in the fracas. Picture: Supplied

“(He) got in with us and then opened up with ‘do you support those terrorist c**ts’,” said Arlo, who uses they/them pronouns.

Arlo, who asked to be identified only by their first name, said the man proceeded to call them “Muslim terrorists” and threatened to kill them.

“He grabbed one of us and … We would get him off of one of us, he would (go) the other,” they said.

“My girlfriend … had a black eye following. I tried to get him away from her.

“Every time I tried to get away, he would pull me back in the lift. He threatened our lives, told us multiple times he was going to kill all of us.”

The group of six friends were wearing Palestinian keffiyehs when they were targeted. Picture: Supplied

They were in Adelaide to protest outside Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office. Picture: Supplied

In a video shared with The Advertiser, the man appears to be grabbing at one of the friends before a voice calls for them to get out of the lift.

The alleged attacker can be heard yelling “you f***ing terrorist supporters” and “I’ll kill every one of you c**ts”.

Arlo believes the man targeted the group on the basis of their race and their attire, which included Palestinian keffiyehs. Three of them are of Arabic background.

“I think the whole Arab community, anyone that’s visibly Arab, does not feel safe,” they said.

“Our lives are not seen equally to other people’s lives. We’re just seen as terrorists.”

SA Police confirmed a Victorian man, 64, was arrested after he allegedly assaulted several people at a Franklin St hotel this month.

Five people from the group were assaulted and sustained minor injuries, police said.

The man was charged with five counts of assault. He was refused police bail and appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, July 8.

Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and the government’s response to the conflict have swept the country since the October 7 attack on Israel, which sparked a bloody retaliation in which nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed.

The crisis has also deepened tensions within Australia.

Groups, including the Islamophobia Register Australia, said reports of Islamophobia have also been on the rise. It received 230 reports of Islamophobia within a seven-week period from October 7.

Diala, another alleged assault victim, said while it was the most aggressive incident they have experienced, it was not an isolated one.

She called on politicians to take accountability for the narrative that she said has been built in response to the Israel-Gaza war, which she said had translated to the public that “Arabs are dangerous, that we are terrorists and that our lives are of less value”.