Nationwide rallies as protesters reject ‘spread of Islam’

Nationals MP George Christensen and One Nation founder Pauline Hanson have urged vigilance against Islamic extremism.

Federal government back­bencher George Christensen and One Nation founder Pauline Hanson have used rallies in Queensland to urge greater vigilance against Islamic extremism, shrugging off claims the Reclaim Australia movement is racist and divisive.

At rallies across the country, police yesterday sought to keep Reclaim Australia supporters and anti-racism campaigners apart after violence and four arrests at Saturday’s Melbourne event.

The Reclaim Australia movement has risen out of fears “radicals of Islam” have compromised the nation’s security, values and way of life. Organisers say they are not racist, despite supporters carrying racist placards and making racist chants, and say they are not affiliated with the neo-Nazis or white supremacists who attend some of their events.

At yesterday’s largest event, in Sydney, five people were arrested when about 150 Reclaim Australia supporters — most wearing Australian flags but some dressed as Spartan warriors and one as Ned Kelly — clashed with about 300 anti-racism campaigners and Socialist Alliance members.

In the north Queensland city of Mackay, Mr Christensen was cheered by supporters, heckled by anti-racism protesters and interrupted by arguments between both. He told the Reclaim Australia movement “you people have credibility” but made sure to condemn violent and prejudiced people on both sides.

In a speech referencing Magna Carta and former US president Ronald Reagan, Mr Christensen criticised the secret spread of ­sharia and uncivilised cultures and said freedom-loving Australians had a right to be heard. “We have a voice; it is not a voice of ­hatred, violence and extremism, but a voice of warning, defiance, and a voice of hope,” he said.

At a rally in Rockhampton, on the Queensland coast, Ms Hanson, a Reclaim Australia supporter trying to resurrect the One Nation party and her political ­career, said Australia was changing due to the “spread of Islam”.

“I’m not targeting Muslims — I’m targeting the ideology, what Islam stands for — and it is very different to our culture and Christianity,” Ms Hanson said.

Bill Shorten yesterday repeated his demand Tony Abbott explain why he was “giving the green light for his MPs to be in there stirring up problems”. The Prime Minister did not comment.

Mr Christensen said had he ­accepted an invitation to speak despite criticism from “capital-city commentators” and the “apologists of the Left, the do-gooders, the politically correct crowd”.

A Reclaim Australia breakaway group United Patriots Front, which claims solidarity with Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, hired a bus to carry members from the Melbourne rally to Sydney’s event.

UPF member Renay Brooke, who carried a sign reading “Antifa is worse than Ebola”, said she had been opposed to Islam since the September 11 attacks of 2001. Antifa is an anti-fascism group. Party For Freedom leader Nick Folkes distributed “Stop The Chinese Invasion” flyers. He said the movement “was not racist” but he was against the use of taxpayers’ money to “fund the growth of other cultures in Australia”.