Activists smash windows and light fire in 'politically motivated' attack on Labor MP's office
The Prime Minister has condemned the latest attack on the offices of a Federal Jewish MP in Melbourne, saying political violence has no place in Australia. Early this morning, vandals defaced Josh Burns' office, smashing windows and setting fires in front of the building in protest of the war in Gaza.
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00:00Fears that this is the start of a new violent chapter.
00:06A world away from a war, fires lit up a Melbourne street, the arsonists taking off.
00:12The target, the electorate office of federal Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns.
00:16I'm nervous about it escalating even further.
00:19I'm nervous about someone getting hurt or worse.
00:22Got to be seen as an attack on someone who's a Jewish MP.
00:26There is no place for violence in Australian society.
00:32Just after 3am, vandals smashed windows and then set fires outside Mr Burns' office in
00:38the inner city suburb of St Kilda, leaving a trail of ash and broken glass.
00:43Over his face they scrawled graffiti and painted horns on his head.
00:47The actual use of devil horns on Josh Burns' head is an anti-Semitic trope that has a long
00:53history.
00:54It's an imagery that associates Jews with evil and that is unacceptable.
00:59Police today set up a crime scene as they combed the area for clues, trying to find
01:04out what's led to this escalation.
01:07What happened outside my office caused distress to my staff, my team, my community.
01:12It didn't bring about peace in the Middle East.
01:15I wish if it did I would have vandalised my own office, you know, of course, but it didn't.
01:21Attacks on electorate offices have been on the rise since the war in Gaza started, with
01:26some pro-Palestinian protesters and the Greens blaming the Federal Government for being complicit
01:32in the conflicts.
01:33Protesting outside an electorate office is a part of democracy, but where that crosses
01:37a line into violence, that constitutes violent extremism.
01:40It was a dangerous and silly act.
01:42You haven't brought about peace.
01:44All you've done is set fire outside a residential building where you've put people's lives at
01:51risk.
01:52I mean, how is that a peaceful act?