In the cut-and-thrust of volatile rallies like the one staged in the outer Melbourne suburb of Melbourne yesterday, it could be argued that there were no winners. But Debbie Brennan from the group opposing “Reclaim Australia" says her “Campaign Against Racism and Fascism” were the clear winners.
“By us being there we prevented them from having that rally, we literally drowned them out,” she said.
Ms Brennan denies the presence of a counter-protest incites violence.
“It’s not so much the need for physically facing off. It’s the need on our part to prevent them from having that platform.”
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The leader of Rise Up Australia, Danny Nalliah, disagrees. He addressed the Reclaim Australia rally in Sydney yesterday. He says the inevitable clashes attract attention which transfers to more support for the movement.
“They might claim that they have been successful but I refuse to accept that because of the fact that our rallies are gathering momentum. Our rallies are getting more people joining the Facebook page,” Pastor Nalliah said.
He insists the presence of the counter-protesters stimulates confrontation.
“With all my heart I do know these rallies would be very peaceful and there would be no disruptions if not for the Social Alliance.”
The Race Discrimination Commissioner has called for anti-Islam protestors to reconsider their strategy.
Tim Soutphommasane said people are “responding to ugliness with ugliness” and consideration should be given to peaceful protest strategies.
“Those who are out there who want to make a statement against racism should think very hard about whether they're giving extremist groups unnecessary oxygen and encouragement through action that may be escalating situations,” Dr Soutphommasane said.
But there are few signs of the clashes letting up with more than a dozen mosques proposed for regional and metropolitan centres around Australia, with Reclaim Australia vowing to continue their rallies and protests.
Next month, an event is being organised to mark the tenth anniversary of the Cronulla Race riots, and Debbie Brennan is adamant, this time the opposition voices will be heard.
“We are concerned about Cronulla but we do know that there's going to be a strong counter mobilisation at Cronulla as well,” she said.
