South African man seen at neo-Nazi rally has Australian visa revoked

A South African man who was seen attending a neo-Nazi rally exterior an Australian state parliament has been taken into immigration detention after his visa was revoked.

Matthew Gruter, who has been in Australia since 2022, took half in an anti-Jewish protest exterior the New South Wales parliament organised by the Nationwide Socialist Community earlier this month and is now awaiting deportation.

He was seen amongst round 60 males clad in black, who held up a banner that stated “Abolish the Jewish foyer”, Australian media report.

Australia has seen a current rise in right-wing extremism. Its authorities made the Nazi salute punishable by a compulsory jail time period earlier this yr.

Australia’s Dwelling Affairs Minister Tony Burke stated Mr Gruter’s visa had been cancelled on character grounds, including that those that attended the rally weren’t “patriotic”.

“Multicultural Australia and trendy Australia are the identical factor… They hate trendy Australia,” he stated.

Mr Gruter was detained within the early hours of Tuesday, and would have “very restricted” choices to attraction the choice because it was made at a ministerial degree, he added.

Earlier, Mr Burke stated that anybody on a visa in Australia ought to contemplate themselves a visitor of the nation.

“Like with any family, if a visitor turns as much as present hatred and wreck the family, they are often advised it is time to go house.”

Mr Gruter moved to Australia along with his spouse and works as a civil engineer, in keeping with ABC Information.

The Nationwide Socialist Community, which organised the rally on 8 November, is a widely known neo-Nazi group in Australia.

Demonstrators repeatedly chanted “blood and honour”, a slogan related to the Hitler Youth, in keeping with ABC Information.

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns described the rally, which lasted about 20 minutes, as a “stunning show of hatred and racism and antisemitism”.

Sarah Schwartz, government officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, advised ABC Information neo-Nazi teams have been a menace to multiculturalism within the nation and there wanted to be a distinction between peaceable protests and “hateful stunts”.

“They’re acts of hate speech, and they need to be thought of as such,” she added.

Further reporting by Lana Lam, in Sydney.