Anti-immigration rallies held across Australia, target Indians; govt slams protests

Several hundred Australians on Sunday (August 31) participated in anti-immigration rallies across the nation.

These rallies were also held in the country's largest and most populous city of Sydney, even as the Australian government made it clear they disapproved of such campaigns, saying they were spreading racism and hatred.

Clashes also broke out between anti-immigration protesters and counter-protesters even as the rallies are being linked to neo-Nazi groups.

Indian-born residents in Australia were particularly targeted as promotional material for the ‘March for Australia’ events featured flyers targeting them. Indian-born migrants constitute one of the most prominent ethnic groups in the country, with their numbers doubling between 2013 and 2023 to reach around 8.5 lakh, as per the latest census in 2021.

'More Indians in 5 years'

One flyer read: “More Indians in 5 years, than Greeks and Italians in 100… This isn’t a slight cultural change – it’s replacement plain and simple.”

Also read: Seven Indians among 280 arrested in UK crackdown on illegal delivery gig workers

The 'March for Australia' website says, “mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together”.

“For years, Australia’s unity and shared values have been eroded by policies and movements that divide us. Our streets have seen growing displays of anti-Australian hatred, foreign conflicts, and disintegrating trust,” it said.

On the eve of the rallies, March for Australia took on the country’s politicians, saying they were scared of the protest programme and that it exposed them as “useless suits who have made a career of pretending to represent Australians”.

In a post on X, it said, “Politicians are scared of March For Australia like nothing else, because it shows them up as useless suits who have made a career of pretending to represent Australians - and now they’ve been caught with their pants down because the public is finally organising without them.

Politicians are scared of March For Australia like nothing else, because it shows them up as useless suits who have made a career of pretending to represent Australians - and now they’ve been caught with their pants down because the public is finally organising without them.… https://t.co/Mk0WyJS3ES

— March for Australia (@marchforaus) August 30, 2025

“On August 31, Australians will do what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration.”

Also read: Indian student brutally assaulted, racially abused in Australia

No political affiliation

While members of March for Australia are deemed to be far-right users on social media, the group says it has no political affiliation and calls itself as “a grassroots, organic effort to unite Australians around a common cause ending mass immigration”.

The group also clarified in a recent post that various bodies have tried to take ownership of March for Australia to promote their own agendas, and the organisers of the rallies are neither members of any other group(s) nor acting on their behalf.

Australia is known to be a country largely made of immigrants. Around half of its people are either born in other countries or have a parent born overseas, said one Reuters report.

Also read: India raises handcuffing, manhandling of Indian man at Newark airport with US

Between 5,000 and 8,000 people had assembled for the rally in Sydney on Sunday. A counter-rally was held nearby by the Refugee Action Coalition. In Canberra, the national capital, a few hundred protesters assembled at a lake located near the Parliament House. In central Melbourne, police officers were seen using pepper spray on the protesters.

'We don't support', says govt

Australia’s centre-left government slammed the protest rallies. Murray Watt, the environment minister in the Labour government, told Sky News television on Sunday, “We absolutely condemn the March for Australia rally that's going on today. It is not about increasing social harmony.

"We don't support rallies like this that are about spreading hate and that are about dividing our community," he said, adding that they were "organised and promoted" by neo-Nazi groups.

In a release on Thursday (August 28), the Anthony Albanese government said it was against the events planned for Sunday.

Also read: UK records highest single-day arrival of migrants in small boats this year

“All Australians, no matter their heritage, have the right to feel safe and welcome in our community,” the statement said.

Tony Burke, Minister for Home Affairs, was quoted as saying, “There is no place in our country for people who seek to divide and undermine our social cohesion. Nothing could be less Australian.”

Minister for multicultural affairs Anne Aly said, “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," she added.

Also read: US warns Indians of deportation, lifetime travel ban for overstaying visas

When South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas was asked about the protest in an unrelated press meeting on Sunday morning, he said “minority view .. that doesn’t represent what the overall majority of South Australians believe and know.”

However, there were exceptions among politicians.

Victoria Senator Ralph Babet on Saturday, tweeted, “I urge all patriotic Australians to peacefully assemble tomorrow and defend our nation against the globalists who seek to dismantle it.” The post was retweeted by March for Australia.

(With agency inputs)