Rival protesters confront each other at rival Reclaim Australia/Welcome to Australia rallies in Elder Park, Adelaide.
TEMPERS flared in Elder Park after several hundred people gathered for a “Reclaim Australia” protest against extremist Islam — and were confronted by a rival pro-multiculturalism rally.
Nearly 1250 people had indicated they would be attending on the Reclaim Australia Rally — Adelaide Facebook page but the crowd in Elder Park at the start of the rally numbered only a few hundred — although by the time the group marched to Parliament House it had swelled to an estimated 700 people.
Shortly after 11am, a smaller “Welcome to Australia” group marched past the Reclaim Australia rally, sparking some heated scenes.
Some protesters shouted abuse and waved placards in each others’ faces.
As cries of “Aussie Aussie Aussie” rang out, other protesters shouted back “you are racists”.
Reclaim Australia protesters at Parliament House. OPicture: Bianca De Marchi
When the two groups converged in Elder Park, police set up a blockade to separate them.
Taylor, one of the Reclaim Australia protesters, told The Advertiser: “Real Australians love Australia. They come here to join us, not to change us”.
Songs such as Men at Work’s Down Under and John Farnham’s You’re The Voice rang out as protesters held placards saying “Stop the invasion” and “When you think terror, you think Islam”.
Bystanders appeared to react to the Reclaim Australia protesters with a mixture of discomfort and bemusement. Several families walked past shaking their heads.
Protesters from the rival groups argue in Elder Park. Picture: Bianca De Marchi
One who stopped and spoke to The Advertiser was visibly distraught.
“What year is it when people can still act like this?” she said. “For shame.”
Brad Chilcott and Mohammad Al-Khajafi of the Welcome to Australia group said it was disappointing that the peaceful rally became heated.
“It goes to show there is no such thing as peaceful prejudice,” Mr Chilcott said.
Activists from the Welcome to Australia rally. Picture: Bianca De Marchi
“It’s really sad,” added Mr Al-Khajafi.
“I’m not angry — I’m just irritated there are so many misconceptions and they are not looking at the facts. I would be more than happy to sit down with them to explain this in a peaceful way.”
Both groups ended up on North Terrace with the Reclaim Australia protesters setting up on the steps of Parliament House.
Meanwhile, the Reclaim Australia organisers were in damage control after their official Twitter account sent out a series of strange tweets.
Unhappy little Vegemite: An anti-halal food protester at the Reclaim Australia rally at Elder Park. Picture: Sam Kelton
An activist named Jeremy was given access to the official Twitter account to “live tweet” the event — but instead sent out a series of sarcastic messages before the organisers shut off his access.
The organisers then announced Reclaim Australia rallies would be postponed until further notice.
However, crowds of several hundred people still showed up in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, where there were similarly tense scenes to Adelaide.
Reclaim Australian spokeswoman Catherine Brennan apologised for any confusion the Twitter issue may have caused.
Ms Brennan said her group would “regroup and redouble our efforts to stop the growing tide of Islamification of Australia”, and went on to say this would be “best achieved by having town hall meetings”.
Some of Jeremy’s tweets from the official Reclaim Australia Twitter feed.
Source: The Advertiser
READ MORE: Reclaim Australia organisers red-faced after Twitter disaster
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Statement regarding Twitter account and regroup of #ReclaimAustralia protest. pic.twitter.com/r83iaXXrVW
— Reclaim Australia (@ReclaimAus) April 4, 2015
ATTENTION EVERYONE – We deeply apologise for Jeremy’s contributions to our account we’ve removed his access – we are preparing a statement.
— Reclaim Australia (@ReclaimAus) April 4, 2015
After long discussion with our social media manager we will not be deleting the offending tweets due to our commitment to #freespeech.
— Reclaim Australia (@ReclaimAus) April 4, 2015
Reclaim Australia rally at Elder Park attracts small crowd and rival protesters
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