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Another country, another revolt against Indi-ficiation. I hope our Australian Indian PPers remain safe and well. These are tough times globally.
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A week before the March for Australia rallies, leaders from the south Asian community held an emergency meeting.
“I feel this will be Cronulla 2.0,” Amar Singh texted the group on 23 August, to arrange the meeting for the following day.
“There have already been physical attacks on international students in Sydney,” the former Australian of the Year local hero award-winner warned.
Migrants of Indian background were directly targeted in promotional material available on the March for Australia website before the anti-immigration protests that took place across Australia on Sunday, echoing similar racist messaging in the UK, and members of Australia’s Indian diaspora community continue to report troubling stories about an increase in prejudice towards those of south Asian heritage.
There was violence on the streets of Melbourne’s CBD during the March for Australia, and it was followed by an alleged attack on women at a First Nations protest site by a group of men including some members of neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network. The NSN’s leader, Thomas Sewell, has been charged with multiple offences, including violent disorder and affray over the alleged incident at Camp Sovereignty.
In the wake of the marches, Singh and others remain shocked and concerned over the racist targeting of Australia’s Indian diaspora community.
On Wednesday, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and police conveyed a meeting of the state’s anti-hate taskforce, which heard directly from members of the Indian community about their concerns.
“We have seen really hateful behaviour in recent days [and] its been so disappointingly targeted at the Indian community,” Allan said in a video posted on social media.
Anti-immigration protesters demonstrate outside Flinders Street station in Melbourne, Australia
‘Hate rallies controlled by neo-Nazis’
While supporting “people’s right to protest”, Singh said the March for Australia was “nothing but hate rallies controlled by neo-Nazis”.
“If those neo-Nazis weren’t welcome, they wouldn’t have spoken at the rallies,” the Turbans 4 Australia charity founder said.
“What do we have to do to be Australian? We celebrate Australia Day, we give back, we volunteer … it’s a whole process to come into Australia, it’s not just like you get a ticket one day and come in.”
As the rallies approached, there was confusion about who the organisers were in each state, although statements on the March for Australia Facebook page distanced the events from white supremacists.
“In particular, recent claims by Thomas Sewell of White Australia are not reflective of the organisers nor the politics of March For Australia. We are not associated with their organisation,” it posted on 12 August.
Yogesh Bhatt, a Hindu interfaith leader with Merri-bek council in Melbourne’s inner-north, was “shocked” to see the Indian community singled out in material promoting the march.
“The Indian community is a well-educated, peace-loving and law-abiding part of the multicultural fabric of Australia,” Bhatt, who is also the president and founder of the Vivekananda Society of Australia, said.
“We have contributed significantly to this country’s growth in various fields like technology, healthcare, education, business, you name it.
“We pay our taxes. I’m not sure why they targeted us.”
He said in the lead-up to the rally, community leaders spread the message not to visit the Melbourne CBD over the weekend to prevent the situation from escalating.
Bhatt said he was later shocked to see the number of people that attended the rally – estimated by Victoria police to be 5,000 including counter-protesters – and the involvement of neo-Nazis, with Sewell addressing the crowd from the front steps of state parliament.
“Sometimes I think, is this the same Melbourne I migrated to years back?” Bhatt said. “It’s definitely not.”
He said the rally, as well as recent vandalism at several Hindu temples, including racist graffiti at the Shree Swaminarayan temple in Boronia in July, have made headlines back in India.
Threats and attacks
The attacks on students that so concerned Singh and prompted the emergency meeting of community leaders reportedly occurred on the night of 20 August, when two women with Indian heritage were travelling on a train in Sydney’s west.
Singh said he was told a group of three women accosted one of the students, punching her, spitting on her, and spilling beer on her, while shouting insults at her about her race and telling her to “go back home”. One of the attackers appeared to be filming.
Protesters at the anti-immigration rally in Melbourne CBD on Sunday 31 August 2025.View image in fullscreen
Protesters at the anti-immigration rally in Melbourne CBD on Sunday 31 August 2025. Photograph: Charlie Kinross/The Guardian
The first student got off the train at Seven Hills station, and the group then turned their attention to the second student, Singh said, who was similarly attacked before getting off the train in Blacktown. Singh said the attacks were reported to New South Wales police, who have been contacted for comment.
I never thought my race would be under scrutiny here. After the March for Australia protests, how do I feel safe?
Singh said he himself is routinely threatened online, with people commenting on his posts that he should “assimilate” and warning that they were outside his house.
He said he “would need a full-time [personal assistant]” if he were to report every online threat he received.
Migrants were being scapegoated for issues that were not of their making, he said.
“If you look at bus drivers, or security guards, all these other jobs, it is all people from ethnic backgrounds doing those jobs. Who is taking other people’s jobs? Nobody,” he said.
Tarang Chawla, a commissioner on the Victorian Multicultural Commission, said that many migrants from south Asia were in fact feeling the same cost-of-living and housing pressures that were being used as a stalking horse for their vilification.
“The angst and turmoil that lower socioeconomic groups, regardless of race, are experiencing across the county is quite common.
“This isn’t a protest founded in reason or statistics, this is the lowest common denominator, racially motivated, filled with prejudice.
“It’s the same old tired narrative when you blame Indians for something that’s not of their making.”
At the March for Australia in Brisbane on Sunday, a man who described himself as Indian spoke to the crowd.
“Yes, I’m a brown man, yes I’m an immigrant from India, but I came here for the right reason,” the man said.
“I came here by the right path … but what I see happening today, this is not immigration, this is an open door policy, anyone can come in, take a spot, and demand that Australia change for them.”
The man was largely drowned out by boos, before a group of others chanted “let him speak”.
‘Have we not learned anything?’
Dr Surjeet Dogra Dhanji, an academic fellow at the University of Melbourne and former director for cultural diplomacy at the Australia India Institute, says racism toward migrants has existed for as long as migration itself.
“We may have put the White Australia policy behind us but every time a new group comes to this country they go through the same cycle of racism. Have we not learned anything?” she said.
The Indian community has been the target of vitriol prior to Sunday’s rallies, with videos circulated on social media over the summer showing spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground chanting “where’s your visa” on the final day of the fourth Test between Australia and India, and clips of Flinders Street station accompanied by the words “Mumbai or Melbourne?”.
Dogra Dhanji said the flyers circulating about the March for Australia were the “first time” she had seen the Indian community “targeted as openly”, with rhetoric mirroring that used in the US and UK.
One flyer decried the number of Indian migrants coming to Australia, saying “this isn’t about a slight cultural change – it’s replacement plain and simple” – reflecting the language of a racist conspiracy theory that claims there is a plot to replace white people in western countries via immigration and birthrates.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that Indian-born people comprise just 3.2% of Australia’s population.
Dogra Dhanji said the rhetoric employed at the protest stood in contrast to most Victorians’ views on the Indian diaspora, and welcomed the Victorian Liberals calling out the racist flyer on the Friday before the rally.
Evan Mulholland, the Victorian opposition’s multicultural affairs spokesperson, said “attacks on Australian citizens of any heritage are completely misdirected and unacceptable”.
“The Liberals and Nationals won’t stand for the blatant targeting of any community, and in this instance it was Indian-Australians who were singled out.
“Indian Australians love this country. They’re patriotic, adopt the Australian way of life, value family and education, and are upstanding citizens.”
www.theguardian.com
====
A week before the March for Australia rallies, leaders from the south Asian community held an emergency meeting.
“I feel this will be Cronulla 2.0,” Amar Singh texted the group on 23 August, to arrange the meeting for the following day.
“There have already been physical attacks on international students in Sydney,” the former Australian of the Year local hero award-winner warned.
Migrants of Indian background were directly targeted in promotional material available on the March for Australia website before the anti-immigration protests that took place across Australia on Sunday, echoing similar racist messaging in the UK, and members of Australia’s Indian diaspora community continue to report troubling stories about an increase in prejudice towards those of south Asian heritage.
There was violence on the streets of Melbourne’s CBD during the March for Australia, and it was followed by an alleged attack on women at a First Nations protest site by a group of men including some members of neo-Nazi group the National Socialist Network. The NSN’s leader, Thomas Sewell, has been charged with multiple offences, including violent disorder and affray over the alleged incident at Camp Sovereignty.
In the wake of the marches, Singh and others remain shocked and concerned over the racist targeting of Australia’s Indian diaspora community.
On Wednesday, the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and police conveyed a meeting of the state’s anti-hate taskforce, which heard directly from members of the Indian community about their concerns.
“We have seen really hateful behaviour in recent days [and] its been so disappointingly targeted at the Indian community,” Allan said in a video posted on social media.
Anti-immigration protesters demonstrate outside Flinders Street station in Melbourne, Australia
‘Hate rallies controlled by neo-Nazis’
While supporting “people’s right to protest”, Singh said the March for Australia was “nothing but hate rallies controlled by neo-Nazis”.
“If those neo-Nazis weren’t welcome, they wouldn’t have spoken at the rallies,” the Turbans 4 Australia charity founder said.
“What do we have to do to be Australian? We celebrate Australia Day, we give back, we volunteer … it’s a whole process to come into Australia, it’s not just like you get a ticket one day and come in.”
As the rallies approached, there was confusion about who the organisers were in each state, although statements on the March for Australia Facebook page distanced the events from white supremacists.
“In particular, recent claims by Thomas Sewell of White Australia are not reflective of the organisers nor the politics of March For Australia. We are not associated with their organisation,” it posted on 12 August.
Yogesh Bhatt, a Hindu interfaith leader with Merri-bek council in Melbourne’s inner-north, was “shocked” to see the Indian community singled out in material promoting the march.
“The Indian community is a well-educated, peace-loving and law-abiding part of the multicultural fabric of Australia,” Bhatt, who is also the president and founder of the Vivekananda Society of Australia, said.
“We have contributed significantly to this country’s growth in various fields like technology, healthcare, education, business, you name it.
“We pay our taxes. I’m not sure why they targeted us.”
He said in the lead-up to the rally, community leaders spread the message not to visit the Melbourne CBD over the weekend to prevent the situation from escalating.
Bhatt said he was later shocked to see the number of people that attended the rally – estimated by Victoria police to be 5,000 including counter-protesters – and the involvement of neo-Nazis, with Sewell addressing the crowd from the front steps of state parliament.
“Sometimes I think, is this the same Melbourne I migrated to years back?” Bhatt said. “It’s definitely not.”
He said the rally, as well as recent vandalism at several Hindu temples, including racist graffiti at the Shree Swaminarayan temple in Boronia in July, have made headlines back in India.
Threats and attacks
The attacks on students that so concerned Singh and prompted the emergency meeting of community leaders reportedly occurred on the night of 20 August, when two women with Indian heritage were travelling on a train in Sydney’s west.
Singh said he was told a group of three women accosted one of the students, punching her, spitting on her, and spilling beer on her, while shouting insults at her about her race and telling her to “go back home”. One of the attackers appeared to be filming.
Protesters at the anti-immigration rally in Melbourne CBD on Sunday 31 August 2025.View image in fullscreen
Protesters at the anti-immigration rally in Melbourne CBD on Sunday 31 August 2025. Photograph: Charlie Kinross/The Guardian
The first student got off the train at Seven Hills station, and the group then turned their attention to the second student, Singh said, who was similarly attacked before getting off the train in Blacktown. Singh said the attacks were reported to New South Wales police, who have been contacted for comment.
I never thought my race would be under scrutiny here. After the March for Australia protests, how do I feel safe?
Singh said he himself is routinely threatened online, with people commenting on his posts that he should “assimilate” and warning that they were outside his house.
He said he “would need a full-time [personal assistant]” if he were to report every online threat he received.
Migrants were being scapegoated for issues that were not of their making, he said.
“If you look at bus drivers, or security guards, all these other jobs, it is all people from ethnic backgrounds doing those jobs. Who is taking other people’s jobs? Nobody,” he said.
Tarang Chawla, a commissioner on the Victorian Multicultural Commission, said that many migrants from south Asia were in fact feeling the same cost-of-living and housing pressures that were being used as a stalking horse for their vilification.
“The angst and turmoil that lower socioeconomic groups, regardless of race, are experiencing across the county is quite common.
“This isn’t a protest founded in reason or statistics, this is the lowest common denominator, racially motivated, filled with prejudice.
“It’s the same old tired narrative when you blame Indians for something that’s not of their making.”
At the March for Australia in Brisbane on Sunday, a man who described himself as Indian spoke to the crowd.
“Yes, I’m a brown man, yes I’m an immigrant from India, but I came here for the right reason,” the man said.
“I came here by the right path … but what I see happening today, this is not immigration, this is an open door policy, anyone can come in, take a spot, and demand that Australia change for them.”
The man was largely drowned out by boos, before a group of others chanted “let him speak”.
‘Have we not learned anything?’
Dr Surjeet Dogra Dhanji, an academic fellow at the University of Melbourne and former director for cultural diplomacy at the Australia India Institute, says racism toward migrants has existed for as long as migration itself.
“We may have put the White Australia policy behind us but every time a new group comes to this country they go through the same cycle of racism. Have we not learned anything?” she said.
The Indian community has been the target of vitriol prior to Sunday’s rallies, with videos circulated on social media over the summer showing spectators at the Melbourne Cricket Ground chanting “where’s your visa” on the final day of the fourth Test between Australia and India, and clips of Flinders Street station accompanied by the words “Mumbai or Melbourne?”.
Dogra Dhanji said the flyers circulating about the March for Australia were the “first time” she had seen the Indian community “targeted as openly”, with rhetoric mirroring that used in the US and UK.
One flyer decried the number of Indian migrants coming to Australia, saying “this isn’t about a slight cultural change – it’s replacement plain and simple” – reflecting the language of a racist conspiracy theory that claims there is a plot to replace white people in western countries via immigration and birthrates.
The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that Indian-born people comprise just 3.2% of Australia’s population.
Dogra Dhanji said the rhetoric employed at the protest stood in contrast to most Victorians’ views on the Indian diaspora, and welcomed the Victorian Liberals calling out the racist flyer on the Friday before the rally.
Evan Mulholland, the Victorian opposition’s multicultural affairs spokesperson, said “attacks on Australian citizens of any heritage are completely misdirected and unacceptable”.
“The Liberals and Nationals won’t stand for the blatant targeting of any community, and in this instance it was Indian-Australians who were singled out.
“Indian Australians love this country. They’re patriotic, adopt the Australian way of life, value family and education, and are upstanding citizens.”
'Is this the same Melbourne I migrated to?' Indians targeted by racist messaging are asking why them
Shock and concern as ‘peace-loving and law-abiding’ community subjected to ‘hateful behaviour’
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