CANBERRA
Chris Minns, the premier of Australia’s southeastern state of New South Wales, on Saturday condemned a neo-Nazi rally in Sydney, calling for increased police powers to prevent similar gatherings in the future.
Nearly 60 members of the neo-Nazi group, dressed in black, assembled outside the NSW Parliament on Saturday morning, according to SBS News.
In a press conference later on Saturday, Minns called out the “deploring, disgusting behavior on Sydney streets,” describing the rally as “absolutely shameful.”
“If you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile. Does anyone believe that after dipping their toe into racism in Sydney, they’re going to stop here?”
Mentioning that there is a “spread of racism in our community,” Minns said that “it’s not going to stop with the Jewish community. We have seen attacks on the Indian community in New South Wales and on the Islamic community in New South Wales.”
Minns also proposed that police should be given greater authority to prevent similar demonstrations from occurring in the future.
“It’s likely the case that we need to give police more legislated powers to stop this kind of naked hatred and racism on Sydney streets,” he said.
Appearing with Minns, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said a “breakdown in communication” led to police authorizing the protest, explaining it was approved because no illegal or violent activity was expected.
Under NSW law, police cannot ban a protest but may deny authorization if they believe it threatens public or attendee safety.
New laws that took effect in August in NSW make it illegal to incite hatred based on someone’s race in public.
Separately, Max Kaiser, the executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, condemned “the antisemitic stunt held today” while also cautioning against giving the police additional powers.
“The hate these fascists feel for Jews is the same hate they show for First Nations Australians, Muslims, queer people, and many others,” he said.
“Rather than giving police more power, the Jewish Council calls for united action to combat the far-right and root out the racism it breeds across society.”
