It is as if the silvery freedom suddenly turned, and showed the scaly back of the reptile, and the horrible paws. – DH Lawrence in Kangaroo.
Black shirts (National Socialists) marched to where a Palestinian rally was to be held in Brisbane Magan-djin on Sunday 12 August 2024. They were chanting anti-refugee and anti-Muslim slogans. As police pushed them back near the statue of King George V mounted on his bronze horse, I heard their leader exclaim: “This is the King’s highway, we have freedom of access to the King’s highway.”
The Black shirts repeatedly tried to enter King George Square where I was setting up the PA system for the 30th rally against the genocide in Gaza.
About 40 Black Shirts in platoon formation chanted: “Australia for the white man, the rest must go” and “deport them now.”
Eventually police broke them up and arrested four of them.
The Palestinian rally went ahead without incident. About 400 people marched in support of boycott divestments and sanctions against Israel (BDS).
People were saying that they must’ve been inspired by the fascist demonstrations in Britain shown widely on local news bulletins.
Queensland Premier, Steven Miles, said on TV that night: “This racist behaviour is nothing short of abhorrent and I absolutely condemn it. This is not the Queensland I live in and it is not the Queensland I lead. We are a state full of many cultures, which should all be celebrated.“
Premier Miles made no mention of the Palestinians and Muslims at the rally that the Black Shirts came to intimidate. Nor did he mention his government’s support for arms exports to Israel.
Ian Curr
20 August 2024