Australia detains South African seen at neo-Nazi rally

A South African man who was seen attending a neo-Nazi rally outside an Australian state parliament has been taken into immigration detention after his visa was revoked.

Matthew Gruter, who has been in Australia since 2022, took part in an anti-Jewish protest outside the New South Wales parliament organised by the National Socialist Network earlier this month and is now awaiting deportation.

He was seen among around 60 men clad in black, who held up a banner that said “Abolish the Jewish lobby”, Australian media report.

Australia has seen a recent rise in right-wing extremism. Its government made the Nazi salute punishable by a mandatory prison term earlier this year.

Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke says Gruter’s visa had been cancelled on character grounds, adding that those who attended the rally were not “patriotic”.

“Multicultural Australia and modern Australia are the same thing… They hate modern Australia,” he says.

Gruter was detained in the early hours of Tuesday, and would have “very limited” options to appeal the decision as it was made at a ministerial level, he adds.

Earlier, Burke said anyone on a visa in Australia should consider themselves a guest of the country.

“Like with any household, if a guest turns up to show hatred and wreck the household, they can be told it’s time to go home.”

Gruter moved to Australia with his wife and works as a civil engineer, according to ABC News.

The National Socialist Network, which organised the rally on 8 November, is a well-known neo-Nazi group in Australia.

Gruter is a senior member of the group in New South Wales, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Demonstrators repeatedly chanted “blood and honour”, a slogan associated with the Hitler Youth, according to ABC News.

New South Wales premier Chris Minns describes the rally, which lasted about 20 minutes, as a “shocking display of hatred and racism and antisemitism”.

Sarah Schwartz, executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, tells ABC News neo-Nazi groups were a threat to multiculturalism in the country and there needed to be a distinction between peaceful protests and “hateful stunts”.
“They’re acts of hate speech, and they should be considered as such,” she adds.
–BBC

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