The Australian federal police will investigate potential breaches of counter-terror laws at a pro-Palestine rallies after flags representing terrorist organisation Hezbollah were displayed. A small number of the 700 odd demonstrators in Melbourne's CBD were seen with the flags. Islamic council of Victoria president Adel Salman told the ABC yesterday Hezbollah flags are not welcome at protests.
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00:00I have to stress there was a minority, an absolute minority of people flying those flags.
00:06And I think once the organisers realised, they were actually asked to take them down
00:09and it was made very clear to them that they're not welcome, these Hezbollah flags are not
00:13welcome at this protest, which is about solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
00:17Are you worried at all that the overall message of the protests has been tarnished by people
00:22using it?
00:23Look, there's always that risk.
00:25People use things like this for their own purposes and to use it to smear the broader
00:30pro-Palestine campaign.
00:31But I'm hoping that most people of common sense will realise that this is an absolute
00:34minority and this wasn't a protest in support of Hezbollah in any way, shape or form.
00:39And that the protesters were not here, were not there, sorry, to express any support for
00:45Hezbollah.
00:46That has to be made very clear.
00:48Protest organisers have a responsibility to do what they can do and what they need to
00:52do to ensure that there's peace at the protest, that it's a peaceful protest, that all the
00:57laws are abided by, that they work in collaboration with the Victoria Police, which has happened
01:02for a year now.
01:04And to deliver the message to protesters that this is a peaceful rally, this is purely about
01:08supporting the Palestinians, it is not about supporting any other groups.
01:12And I think the protest organisers are doing what they can and they will continue to do
01:15that, to send that message out.
01:18Does the Islamic Council take steps to discourage the use of extremist symbols in public demonstrations?
01:25What we do, our message to our members and to the broader Muslim community is always
01:29that when we are protesting, we need to do so lawfully.
01:34And if people are doing things that are unlawful, whether it be flying the flag of Hezbollah
01:39or other flags that are unlawful, then clearly we discourage that and we actually ask them
01:44not to do that.
01:45But at the end of the day, people are free to do what they see fit.
01:50All we can do is educate and raise awareness.
01:52Well, I think it's the same message as we've been saying for the last 12 months of protests.
01:58The people protesting in support of the Palestinians and in support of the people of Gaza are not
02:02anti-Semitic.
02:03This is not driven by any hatred for the Jews, this is purely about support of Palestinians.
02:09And I think we can assure the Australian public that there is no one or the absolute
02:14minority of people that would be supporting Hezbollah.
02:18The vast majority of the pro-Palestine movement are supporting the Palestinians.
02:22And so I think that's a message that needs to be reinforced, I think.