Society

Political tensions converge during day of protests across Australia

Protests collide in cities across Australia, police keep things peaceful

Published

7 months ago

September 15, 2025

Marcela Fernandez

On Saturday, September 13, various groups led protests in Melbourne’s CBD, with heavy police force monitoring the area. The protests included several opposing groups such as the ‘Free Palestine Coalition’, ‘Rally Against Racism’ and ‘Save Australia’. The police issued a public notice and outlined a designated area in the CBD in order to maintain control over the developments. While police presence is to be expected, the extra precautions were deemed necessary after the escalation of the March for Australia protests in August, which resulted in violence and, eventually, arrests.

The spotlight was on Melbourne after the recent aggression in similar demonstrations, but planned protests were organized throughout the country on the same day, with people primarily congregating in cities like Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

In all of these locations and more, there were different groups and often-opposing agendas, some of whom paid tribute to the recent assassination of American right-wing political influencer, Charlie Kirk.

Several of the marches rallied around the flag of Indigenous sovereignty, partly in response to the attack on a First Nations camp in Melbourne last month. These groups further made general appeals against the racist and anti-immigration sentiments which have recently been rampant in the news.

Protestors supporting Indigenous rights were briefly confronted by police, and one individual was allegedly pepper-sprayed. A member stated that, “The March for Australia only had two lines of police, ours had four […] The cops pushed our people and started getting aggressive.” Victoria Police insisted that intervention was required to separate opposing groups.

“Police were required to intervene several times to separate protestors from opposing groups, and OC spray was deployed. Both groups dissipated peacefully at the conclusion of the protests.” -Official statement from Victoria Police.

At one point in Melbourne, the opposing rallies were within 50 meters of each other, separated only by lines of police defense. The two groups gathered near Parliament House, chanting and holding up signs. The police reinforced the barriers and sectioned off areas to avoid clashing. Thankfully, the situation did not escalate further and there was no significant violence or police action required.

In Sydney, a planned ‘Remigration Rally’ associated with extremist right-wing ideology was held. It saw members present wearing symbols affiliated with Nazism, advocating for immigration cuts and reintroducing previously abolished policies. NSW Premier Chris Minns has warned against the tendency to turn political opinion into violence and disavowed these notions as being incompatible with Australian culture.

“Political violence is the last thing we need in New South Wales.” -Minns

Victoria Police said that the groups ultimately dispersed without causing incident and the other cities like NSW and Brisbane also reported that there were no significant confrontations. While these protests were planned, there have been associations with political unrest in the USA, Charlie Kirk’s death and growing nationalist attitudes.

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