Australian PM denounces right-wing protests in Melbourne
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E-mail Xinhua, January 6, 2019
CANBERRA, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has condemned "ugly racial protests" that erupted in Melbourne on Saturday.
Police arrested three people at St Kilda Beach in Melbourne's southern suburbs on Saturday as 300 far-right demonstrators protesting against the city's alleged African gang problems engaged in minor scuffles with a larger group of anti-racism protestors.
Victoria Police deployed officers in riot gear as well as mounted, canine and aerial divisions to the beach to maintain order.
"I thank Victoria Police for their efforts dealing with the ugly racial protests we saw in St Kilda yesterday. Intolerance does not make Australia stronger," Morrison wrote on social media on Sunday.
"Australia is the most successful migrant country in the world.
"This has been achieved by showing respect for each other, our laws and values and maintaining sensible immigration policies.
"Let's keep it that way, it makes Australia stronger."
Fraser Anning, an independent senator from Queensland, has been attacked for his appearance at the far-right rally.
Anning in August 2018 drew criticism for using of the term "final solution", a phrase used by the Nazis to describe the extermination of the Jewish people of Europe, during his first parliamentary speech.
He appeared alongside Blair Cottrell, the convicted extremist leader of the United Patriots Front, at the rally and made inflammatory remarks about migration.
"I'm here representing a lot of people from Queensland who wish they could be here," he told protestors in a speech.
"This rally is Australian people showing their disgust with the Australian government for allowing garbage like these Sudanese thugs coming into our country and ... attacking us in our own country."
Sarah Hanson-Young, a senator for the left-wing Greens Party, said Anning's behavior was "unacceptable."
"The government should refuse to take Fraser Anning's vote after he has shown again he is unfit to be in parliament," she wrote on social media.
"Hanging out and supporting with neo-Nazis who are inciting violence is inexcusable." Enditem
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