SYDNEY: Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday slammed “ugly racial protests” in Australia’s second-largest city, after some far-right demonstrators were seen making Nazi salutes.

An anti-immigration rally at St Kilda Beach in Melbou­rne drew hundreds of demonstrators and counter-protesters on Saturday, but a large Victoria Police presence was broadly successful in keeping the two groups apart.

“I thank Vic police for their efforts dealing with the ugly racial protests we saw in St Kilda yesterday. Intole­rance does not make Austr­alia stronger,” Morri­son tweeted. “Australia is the most successful migrant country in the world ... Let’s keep it that way, it makes Australia stronger.”

Victoria Police Superin­tendent Tony Silva said on Saturday there were three arrests but no officers or member of the public were known to have been hurt.

Immigration remains a hot-button issue in Australia amid concern about jobs and overcrowding in major cities. Nearly half of Australia’s 25-million population was either born overseas or has at least one parent born abroad.

The rally was organised by founders of the United Patr­iots Front, which conducts anti-immigration demonstrations in Melbourne from time to time. They said Saturday’s protest was against alleged African gang violence and youth crime in the city.

Far-right independent sen­a­tor Fraser Anning — who demanded “a final solution” to immigration in his maiden speech to the Senate last year — attended the St Kilda rally and said it was the “start of something bigger”.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2019