Man Charged For Allegedly Doing A Nazi Salute To Interrupt A Sydney Trans Rally

A 20-year-old has been charged with allegedly doing a Nazi salute at the Sydney rally for Trans Day of Remembrance/Resistance.

The 20-year-old was reportedly not a part of the event, but a bystander that momentarily interrupted the TDOR march as protestors walked through Camperdown.

 

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Police also allege he made threatening remarks to the people who were taking part of the event, which is recognised as a solemn day of remembrance for trans people who have been killed and injured due to transphobia.

The protest and march was organised by Sydney group Pride in Protest.

Man charged with knowingly displaying a Nazi salute at Sydney trans rally

The man was arrested after the incident, and was taken by NSW Police to Newtown Station.

He received bail and will be in court in January, facing charges of knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol, and making a gesture known as a Nazi salute in a public place.

The 20-year-old is scheduled to appear in the Newtown Local Court to face the charges in January next year.

States crack down on hate speech and gestures

The charge is amid the crackdown on offensive and hate gestures.

Laws banning Nazi gestures and language passed NSW Parliament in 2022, and near-identical laws began operating in Victoria in October of 2023.

There have multiple instances of these laws being put into practice since.

Neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant became the first person charged under the laws when he performed the Nazi salute in front of media and cameras on the steps of the County Court in Victoria in the days after the new laws took effect, in protest of them.

In October, Hersant’s legal team argued that the salute was a form of political expression, but Hersant was found guilty, then granted bail on appeal the following month.

56-year-old Alan Yazbek, the owner of Sydney restaurant Nomad, was found guilty under the NSW laws in Sydney recently. At a pro-Palestine protest, he held up a flag that read ‘stop Nazi Israel’, with the Star of David replaced with a swastika. He is due to be sentenced next month.