Police called to kids drag story protest at Marrickville Library
A group of protesters have attempted to disrupt a drag story time event in Sydney’s inner west.
NSW
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A group of protesters have attempted to disrupt a drag story time event in Sydney’s inner west.
Witnesses said a group of “heavily built” men tried to gain access to the show at Marrickville Library about 10.30am.
One said the men tried to walk in among infants and their parents claiming they were “just looking for books”.
“They were being smart-arses but we knew why they were here,” they said.
Another said they felt threatened as the group stood around “menacingly” near the entry to the event as people came in.
Police were called to the scene when the four or five men left but they continued to bang on the windows from the outside of the Library.
The men are believed to be attached to ‘Christian Lives Matter’, whose ringleader Christian Sukkar was seen outside the venue with the group.
Their antics last year included marching and chanting down King St, Newtown - a hub for the city’s LGBT+ community - and clashing with activists in violent scenes at Belfield.
The event was an Inner West Council supported show for 3-5 year olds with drag icon Joyce Maynge.
The show went ahead as scheduled despite the interruption.
Council staff this week were on the receiving end of trolling and abuse over the event.
“We are proud to host drag storytime events and will continue to do so,” Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne said.
“People mean spirited enough to harass families trying to get to enjoy story telling with their kids have way too much time on their hands.
“It is sad and regrettable that the ABC storytime event was cancelled this week due to extremist trolling.
“We will continue to stand in solidarity with rainbow families and hold these fun and safe family events.”
The National Socialist Network group of neo-Nazis who attempted to disrupt Australia Day a fortnight ago planned to organise a campaign of harassment to get the same event shut down.
Inside their encrypted group chats on Telegram several members were listing email addresses and phone numbers of the council, encouraging others to bombard them with complaints.
It came after they attempted to target a similar event in Rockdale hosted by the ABC that had to be cancelled earlier in the week.
There is no affiliation between the Christian group and the neo-Nazis.
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