Far-right social media views of alleged attacker at Fraser Anning political announcement

A teen charged with attacking a news crew at a Fraser Anning event on Friday is a far-right activist who this month pledged his allegiance to the senator with the words “victory or death”.

• Eliza Barr: ‘I want to do my job without the threat of violence’
• Anning defends actions against ‘egg boy’
• Anning deserves fullest form of scrutiny

A teen charged with attacking a news crew at a Fraser Anning event on Friday is a far-right activist who this month pledged his allegiance to the senator with the words “victory or death”.

Max Towns, 19, is also a self-confessed member of ­extremist group True Blue Crew and attended a rally in Melbourne last year, a police source told The Saturday Telegraph.

Reporter Eliza Barr and photographer Dylan Robinson talk with police after the alleged assault. Picture: Joel Carrett

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It is the latest incident of violence at a Mr Anning event and comes after he punched a teenager who threw an egg at him in Melbourne last month.

Will Connolly, 17, was subsequently restrained in a chokehold by supporters of the senator.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison condemned yesterday’s alleged assault and intimidation of News Corp’s St George Shire Standard reporter Eliza Barr, 26, and Saturday Telegraph photographer Dylan Robinson, 27, who was allegedly punched in the head several times and suffered minor injuries.

EXCLUSIVE: A picture taken by Dylan Robinson moments before Max Towns allegedly attacked him. Picture: Dylan Robinson

The pair were leaving a press conference called by Mr Anning in Dunningham Park, North Cronulla, with his candidate for Mr Morrison’s seat of Cook in southern Sydney.

“That type of behaviour has no place in Australia, that type of violence,” Mr Morrison said.

“People should be able to go to work, whether you’re a journalist or photographer or anyone else, and not be subjected to that sort of violence, and I find it absolutely appalling and he is placed last on my ticket and (my) party’s ticket.”

Max Towns was detained and arrested after the alleged assault on Dylan Robinson. Picture: Joel Carrett

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten also condemned the violence and contacted Ms Barr: “There is no place in our country for this radical extremist violent ideology.”

Undercover police were at Mr Anning’s event and quickly arrested Towns, who had allegedly followed Ms Barr for 50m.

Police will allege Towns, who claims to be a Sydney University student, repeatedly called her a “Commie whore” before making a derogatory comment about her breasts. Mr Robinson went to her aid and was allegedly punched at least twice and his camera was knocked to the ground.

Max Towns appears to throw punches at Daily Telegraph photographer Dylan Robinson. AAP: Andrew Leeson

A third man intervenes to end the violence, as Robinson appears to fall backwards. Picture: AAP Image/Andrew Leeson

The experienced news photographer was able to get pictures of Towns as he launched the alleged assault.

Towns was charged with common assault, intimidation and behaving in an offensive manner and was bailed to appear in court next month on the condition he stay out of the Sutherland Shire and stop attending political events or protests.

Senator Fraser Anning speaks to the media at Dunningham Park at Cronulla. Picture: Joel Carrett

A Facebook page bearing the Randwick teen’s name pledged his allegiance to Mr Anning on Facebook on April 9 with the words “victory or death”, a phrase he has also used in German on social media. The phrase was reportedly used by Hitler during WWII and in other contexts in other wars.

Towns accompanied the post with an emoji of an open palm salute. Social media posts also show him liking far-right material.

Barr told Sky News last night: “I have been speaking with Dylan all afternoon and he has been very stoic and I am incredibly grateful to have a colleague who did step in to defend me, someone who I can rely on.

“It was extremely distressing to know there was nothing I could do until the police showed up … I couldn’t get in the middle of two grown men and make them stop. I went to him (Dylan) for protection, I suppose, I went to stand by him to try and de-escalate the violence, and then it all went downhill.”

A News Corp spokeswoman said: “The safety of our staff, and their ability to report on news events unhindered is of utmost importance to us and is a fundamental right for all journalists.”

After the press conference, Mr Anning tweeted: “The people of Cronulla and NSW are very concerned about Muslim immigration and they have every right to. My party will ban all Muslim and Black immigration and ensure safety for Australians once more.”

A man lashed out at a photographer today following Fraser Anning’s #auspol press conference in Cronulla, footage here: https://t.co/9TXsaDNFDs pic.twitter.com/UWJX1GsCPP

— Andrew Leeson (@amleeson) April 26, 2019

He later refused to take responsibility for his supporter’s alleged assault, saying he did not see it.

“I don’t know what the lead-up to it was so I can’t really comment,” he said.

“Absolutely, I condemn any violence. I’ve never advocated any violence of any sort to anyone. I continue to do that and all my members continue to do that.”

Mr Anning’s Cook candidate, Peter Kelly, 63, a former army intelligence sergeant who lives more than 40km from the electorate in the north shore suburb  of Gordon, said that he condemned­ the violence­.

“I don’t condone any violent behaviour of any sort,” Mr Kelly said.

Max Towns is detained by police at Dunningham Park at Cronulla. Picture: Joel Carrett

He agreed with Mr Anning’s extreme views on Muslim migration and his comments about the Christchurch mosque terror attacks in New Zealand in which 50 worshippers were slaughtered by right-wing Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant­.

When asked about the senator’s divisive comments in which he condemned violence but blamed the attack on Muslim migration to New Zealand Mr Kelly went a step further, making comments about Muslim migration and the community that The Saturday Telegraph has chosen not to publish.

More than 1.2 million people have previously signed a petition calling for Mr Anning’s removal from parliament, and he is expected to lose his seat in the senate at the election.

#EGGBOY INCIDENT

The incident comes one month after Mr Anning twice slapped 17-year-old Will Connolly, who had cracked an egg on his head, before Anning supporters rushed to his aid.

The teenager was then wrestled to the ground and held there by Mr Anning’s far-right wing supporters — which included convicted criminal Neil Erickson — despite pleas to let the boy go as he was not resisting.

While Connolly was being held on the ground, he was approached by a number of angry men, then kicked in the body a number of times.

Mr Anning has said he had no regrets about his reaction to the egging as he had been defending himself.

“I don’t regret anything I do,” he said. “I defended myself. That’s what Australians do usually, they defend themselves … he got a slap across the face which is what his mother should have given him a long time ago because he’s been misbehaving badly.”

Fraser Anning was egged by 17-year-old Will Connolly.

Teenager Will Connolly was later dubbed the #Eggboy.

Anning supporters pinning Will Connolly to the ground after the egging. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

CHRISTCHURCH COMMENTS CONDEMNED

The incident followed remarks from Mr Anning blaming Muslim migrants for the New Zealand terror attack in which a white supremacist killed 50 worshippers in mosques.

His attempt to stir controversy following the Christchurch massacre was widely condemned in parliament earlier this month.

Senator Anning was accused of blaming the victims, who were gunned down while attending services at two mosques, by a right-wing extremist.

“The real cause of bloodshed on New Zealand streets today is the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate to New Zealand in the first place,” Senator Anning wrote in a media release at the time.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann dubbed his remarks “inflammatory”, “divisive”, “appalling” and “dangerous”, saying: “The Australian people rightly expect this parliament stand in solidarity with our New Zealand cousins following the monstrous attack in Christchurch, which is absolutely right to censure Senator Anning and anyone else within our community who seeks to use horrific tragedy like this one as an opportunity to vilify and divide people based on their religious belief.”

Labor frontbencher Penny Wong said it was a “shameful and pathetic attempt by a bloke who has never been elected to get attention by exploiting diversity”.