Police shut down second neo-Nazi gathering in Sydney

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A group of what the Prime Minister has described as "neo-Nazis" have gathered for a second time in Sydney this week. Around 20 men arrived at a park in the city's north this morning before being moved on by police.

Transcript

00:00 Well, about 15 to 30 men dressed all in black gathered here at our time and reserve around

00:07 nine o'clock this morning.

00:09 It's understood that at least some of those men were the same members of the group that

00:13 were intercepted on a Sydney train on Australia Day carrying a neo-Nazi sign.

00:18 Now, on January 26, police intercepted that gathering and six people were arrested, but

00:23 no charges were laid.

00:25 Police again intercepted this gathering today.

00:28 However, it's not clear whether anybody's been charged yet.

00:32 They appeared to move on relatively peacefully, but as you can imagine, local residents were

00:37 quite shocked that something like this occurred in what is usually a very peaceful and multicultural

00:41 area.

00:42 So, Helena, what happens now?

00:45 Well, the group has been issued several public order directives and they've been told by

00:51 police to stay away from seven different Sydney LGAs, including this one here in the city's

00:57 north.

00:58 The Premier says he's incredibly shocked by what's going on and has made it clear that

01:02 police have powers to identify the members of these groups.

01:07 Those who are attempting to menace people in an anonymous way.

01:10 In New South Wales, the police have the ability to unmask you.

01:14 So in front of your family, your friends, your employers, your co-workers, you'll be

01:20 exposed as a massive racist.

01:22 And that's the situation in New South Wales.

01:24 This is obviously distressing for many people to see, this fascist, ridiculous behaviour

01:29 on New South Wales streets.

01:30 And obviously it's pathetic.

01:35 The Premier also indicated yesterday that he'll be looking into potentially strengthening

01:39 anti-vilification laws and that could involve actually outlawing any kind of white power

01:45 salute including the Nazi salute.

01:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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