Transgender rights activists clash with Neo-Nazi’s in Melbourne, Australia. (Screenshot/YouTube)
Far-right, neo-Nazi extremists gathered outside of Victoria’s Parliament House March 18 to support Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, a British “gender critical” anti-transgender activist.
Keen-Minshull, who founded the group Standing for Women, is currently on a speaking tour of Australia, although a spokesperson for the Victoria Police told the Blade Sunday afternoon [Monday morning Australia] there were no allegations or other ties to support evidence of her direct involvement in the far-right group’s protest which turned violent as police tried to keep pro-trans activists and the far-right groups separated.
Keen-Minshull is seen in multiple media photographs arguing with pro-trans supporters on Saturday along Spring Street in front of Parliament House.
The Neo-Nazi protestors kept throwing up the stiff-arm Nazi salute shouting Nazi slogans. Last year the Victorian government banned the Nazi swastika, with those who defied the ban facing jail terms and hefty fines, the salute however is not covered under the law. The group also shouted homophobic and transphobic epithets and other terms denigrating the pro-trans activists.
A spokesperson for the government told the Blade that officials are now calling for a ban of the salute, quoting a Federal Labour MP, Josh Burns, who said “It makes no sense that it’s now illegal to display a Nazi symbol in Victoria, which is fundamentally a good thing, but you are allowed to do what happened yesterday which is and saluting neo-Nazi ideology.”
Burns also released a statement Saturday [Australia] calling for tougher laws on far-right extremism.
My statement on the neo-Nazis marching outside the Victorian Parliament today #auspol pic.twitter.com/zoWjCQc2wT
— Josh Burns (@joshburnsmp) March 18, 2023
On Sunday, [Australia] Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews, in a Twitter thread, noted “I won’t share a photo because they simply don’t deserve the attention. But yesterday, anti-trans activists gathered to spread hate. And on the steps of our Parliament, some of them performed a Nazi salute. I wish it didn’t have to be said, but clearly it does: Nazis aren’t welcome. Not on Parliament’s steps. Not anywhere.”
I won’t share a photo because they simply don’t deserve the attention.
But yesterday, anti-trans activists gathered to spread hate.
And on the steps of our Parliament, some of them performed a Nazi salute.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) March 19, 2023
Andrews added “So to every trans Victorian, I say this: Our Government will always support you. And we’ll always respect you. Because your rights are not negotiable.”
So to every trans Victorian, I say this:
Our Government will always support you.
And we’ll always respect you.
Because your rights are not negotiable.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) March 19, 2023
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