SYDNEY, NSW. — About 200 people attended today’s ‘Put Australia First’ rally Sydney, whilst only “a few dozen” attended the Melbourne rally organised by racist grifter Monica Smit.
According to The Guardian, no more than 200 people attended today’s anti-immigration rally in Prince Alfred Park, in central Sydney, after police and the premier, Chris Minns, had urged the rally not to go and for people not to attend.
One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce headlined the Sydney rally despite police and politicians panning the event for going ahead on a day of reflection after the Bondi massacre.
About 200 protesters, some brandishing Australian flags and others anti-Islam banners, descended on a park in central Sydney a week to the day after 15 people were killed in the nation’s worst mass shooting since 1996.
In a short press conference before the rally kicked off, Joyce was asked why he hadn’t changed plans after calls for the rally to not go ahead. He said it wasn’t a rally, but a meeting, adding: “Do you see people charging around, yelling and screaming?”
Addressing the crowd, Mr Joyce said people who wanted to harm Australians should be “sent back to wherever hell they came from”.
“You should be allowed to go to the beach on a Sunday without being murdered,” the former deputy prime minister and ex-Nationals leader said.
“(My wife) was crying because people had been murdered, because children had been murdered, because old people had been murdered and because our nation had been sullied by filth,” Joyce said.
In Melbourne, heavy rain warded off crowds, save for a few dozen diehards who rocked up on the steps of the Victorian Parliament.
Earlier, police and politicians urged people not to attend the protests, which they said risked public safety and threatened to further inflame division.
“Terrorists have sought to divide this country but this is a time to stand united – particularly on this national day of reflection,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
In all, no more than 250 Australians turned up to Monica’s rallies across both Melbourne and Sydney.
