On 31st August, thousands of Australians participated in anti-immigration marches nationwide and carried placards that specifically targeted Indian migrants. Notably, the authorities denounced the events as being associated with neo-Nazis and inciting hate. The “March for Australia” banner was used to organise the rallies in Sydney, other state capitals, and regional hubs.
Its website read, “Our streets have seen growing displays of anti-Australian hatred, foreign conflicts, and disintegrating trust, whilst mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together. This march is a stand for the people, culture, and nation that built Australia and for our right to decide its future.”
Anti immigration protests in Australia singles out Indians
“March for Australia” group’s manifesto & flyers prominently feature statistics about Indian migration causing “cultural replacement.”
Protests across Australian cities tomm. Pictures from the posters. pic.twitter.com/AWexK31PGR
— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) August 30, 2025
The goal, according to the group, was to urge a halt to mass immigration, which “the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do.” Right-wing extremism, including neo-Nazi protests, has been on the rise in Australia, where one in two people was born abroad or has an overseas parent.
“All Australians, no matter their heritage, have the right to feel safe and welcome in our community,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese government stated in an official statement. On the other hand, the agitators claimed to be concerned about infrastructure, hospitals, crime, wages, traffic, housing, water supply, culture, and the loss of community.
🚨BREAKING: Protests across Australia have erupted.
500,000 patriots on the streets across the country demanding remigration.
Australia has woken up. pic.twitter.com/jVU2ubVcLe
— The British Patriot (@TheBritLad) August 31, 2025
The organisers clarified that Indian migration is their primary issue, portraying it as a danger to the country’s cultural heritage. “More Indians in 5 years than Greeks and Italians in 100,” the flyer claimed. It further elaborated,” And that’s just from one country,” while referring to immigration as a “replacement plan.”
“We know migration has a cultural impact. This isn’t a slight cultural change – it’s a replacement, plain and simple. Australia is not an economic zone to be exploited by international finance,” the group argued.
Currently, almost 3 percent of the country’s population is Indian-born. The numbers reportedly doubled from 2013 to 2023 to reach roughly 845,800. Additionally, Indians were similarly singled out in a pre-event Facebook post with the promotional materials.
Neo-Nazi launch an attack
During the rallies, a Sydney police officer was attacked, while a group of women in Melbourne were hurt. A group of men, some of whom belonged to the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network, attacked Camp Sovereignty, a permanent First Nations protest site in Melbourne’s Kings Domain, reported the Guardian.
The video captured the sun setting as at least fifty individuals, primarily dressed in black, approached the Camp Sovereignty location. They were “completely unprovoked, they ran up the hill and immediately targeted women, grabbing them, throwing them to the ground, and striking them in the head,” according to Camp Sovereignty and the Black Peoples Union.
According to the camp, two individuals were admitted to the hospital with serious head injuries, including one who had a large cut on their head, and four others needed medical assistance. All of the victims were younger women of colour. They raised extremist slogans like “white power,” “white man’s land,” alongside sexist and racist slurs.
Govt slams the protests, calls them neo-Nazi
Murray Watt, a senior minister in the Labor Government stated, “We absolutely condemn the March for Australia rally that’s going on today. It is not about increasing social harmony,” reported Sky News. He added, “We don’t support rallies like this that are about spreading hate and that are about dividing our community.” Watt also highlighted that the demonstrations were “organised and promoted” by neo-Nazi outfits.
“Multiculturalism is an integral and valued part of our national identity. We stand with all Australians, no matter where they were born, against those who seek to divide us and who seek to intimidate migrant communities. We will not be intimidated. This brand of far-right activism grounded in racism and ethnocentrism has no place in modern Australia,” Minister for Multicultural Affairs Anne Aly declared.
“There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion. Nothing could be less Australian,” lashed out Tony Burke, Minister for Home Affairs.
Protesters holding anti-immigration signs and Australian flags gathered at Flinders Street station in Melbourne before marching to the state parliament. Speaking during the rally, Thomas Sewell, a neo-Nazi, asserted that “his men” had spearheaded the march. “If we do not stop immigration, then our death is certain,” he announced.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people held a counter-rally organised by the Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney. A representative expressed, “Our event shows the depth of disgust and anger about the far-right agenda of March For Australia.”
Australia implemented laws this year that forbid the Nazi salute and the sale or display of symbols linked to terrorist organisations in reaction to a series of antisemitic assaults on synagogues, structures, and vehicles after Israel’s war in Gaza started in October 2023.
