Police are watching the crowd closely today at rallies around the country, with the anti-immigration March for Australia expected to draw known neo-Nazis and their far-right associates.
As people gather at Flinders Street in Melbourne, this masthead has already identified a number of members of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network, which formally disbanded earlier this month to escape the government’s extremism crackdown.
March organiser, the wealthy far-right influencer Hugo Lennon, has not denied the group’s involvement in the marches, but said today’s rallies would not incite violence.
Over the weekend, this masthead revealed the extent of the NSN’s entanglement with terrorists and extremist groups overseas, as experts warned those now cut loose from the neo-Nazi group’s orbit might be more volatile than ever.
In a secret chatroom that this masthead tracked to March for Australia organisers and neo-Nazis, multiple threats were uncovered, including a $10,000 plot to kidnap Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and post bombs through the mail to mosques in the days after the Bondi terror attack, which have since led to at least two police raids.
Albanese has since acknowledged the threats and called for protesters to “turn down the temperature of political debate” ahead of the rallies.
“It’s the truth that the threats have increased, and there have been a range of issues that we have had to deal with, including in the week after December 14th,” Albanese told the ABC on Sunday. “My focus is on keeping all Australians safe, not myself. I trust the AFP and the authorities to do their task, and I’m absolutely determined to not be deterred from attending any event or engaging as prime minister with the Australian people.”
Read part one and part two of this masthead’s investigation.
Read the full article here
