By Frances Howe and Ashleigh McMillan
A group of about 50 people were dispersed by police in a small NSW town on Saturday during a rally of alleged white supremacists.
Police say emergency services were called to attend a report of unauthorised assembly in Corowa, a small town on the border of NSW and Victoria. No arrests were made.
A group of men in black gather in Corowa for a white supremacist rally.
The group, dressed in black, with some wearing sunglasses and face coverings, gathered in front of the town’s war memorial. They were seen holding a sign that read “white man fight back” and could be heard chanting the same words along with “Australia for the white man, the rest must go.”
In video of the Corowa gathering shared with this masthead, a masked member of the group is carrying a flag bearing the logo for the National Socialist Network.
Prominent neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell is the self-appointed leader of the National Socialist Network. He was jailed for 37 days after pleading guilty to an attack on three bushwalkers who filmed the pair’s group at the Cathedral Ranges National Park in May 2021.
Earlier this year, Sewell was confronted by police at North Sydney train station and banned from Australia Day events in the City of Sydney.
Incumbent Mayor Patrick Bourke rejected the rally, saying that in his seven years as mayor, he had never seen anything like it.
“It’s absolutely disgusting. I think it’s a cowardly act to carry on like that in a public arena with children and family around is just not on,” he said.
“It’s pretty unbelievable really to think it would happen in a community like Corowa, it’s definitely not welcome here.”
Videos from the rally shows the group dispersing in a car park as a local resident asked them to reveal their faces.
Sewell was present at a Melbourne magistrate’s court earlier this week to support fellow neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant during a sentencing hearing. Hersant is set to be jailed after being the first Victorian found guilty of performing a Nazi salute in public.
Hersant, middle, and supporter Thomas Sewell, left, leave court this week.Credit: Eddie Jim
Hersant made the gesture outside the County Court of Victoria in October last year, where he’d just been sentenced for a charge of violent disorder in connection with the assault on three bushwalkers in May 2021.
NSW Police have encouraged anyone with information on the incident to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.