Victoria to ban facemasks and certain flags at protests in response to antisemitic attacks
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced a series of measures to crack down on protests, following a series of antisemitic attacks in Melbourne.
“Today, the government of Victoria renews its promise to Jewish people and to everyone of every background, whoever you are and whoever you pray to, you deserve to be safe and welcome here in this state,” she told reporters.
“Today we support that promise with strong action, strong action to fight hate and help Victorians heal.”
Allan said it is clear “that Jewish people increasingly feel the promise of a modern and multicultural Victoria is being denied them”.
The Victorian government is planning to introduce legislation that will ban the display of flags and symbols of listed terrorist organisations in public, including Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanese militia Hezbollah. The ban also applies to white national extremists and radical racist right-wing groups, Allan said.
Similarly, facemasks and balaclavas at protests will also be banned because people are using them to conceal their identities and “shield agitators from crowd control measures like capsicum spray”, a statement from the Victorian government said.
The government said it would also legislate to ban the use of glue, rope, chains, locks “and other dangerous attachment devices that protestors use to cause maximum disruption and endanger others”.
The government said it would consider legislating safe zones to block protests outside places of worship.
Allan said: “Antisemitism thrives in extreme and radical environments, and we are giving police more powers to control protest and making it harder for agents of violence and hate to hide.”
“This isn’t about the Middle East. This is about Victoria. This is about our values and the right of anyone in this state to live, work and pray freely without fear of intimidation, fear and violence.
“Doesn’t matter if you’re Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu – we all deserve the right to simply be who we are.”
Federal Opposition leader Peter Dutton said the Victorian government had been “sitting on its hands” and claimed that allowing pro-Palestinian protests had led to antisemitic attacks.
“If you allow these lunatics to continue their protests at university campuses and you allow them to spew out their hatred and affiliate with a listed terrorist organisation and there to be into consequence, of course we’ll see the sort of outcomes we’ve seen”, Dutton told reporters.
“That’s most recently culminated in the fire bombing of a synagogue.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously expressed support for a ban on protests outside places of worship, which is also being considered by the NSW government.
Earlier this month, at the Adass Synagogue in Melbourne.
Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, the US, Germany and the UK. The European Union lists only its military wing as a terrorist organisation.
However, Hezbollah itself makes no distinction between its political and military wings.
Australia designated Hezbollah a terrorist organisation in 2021 and, in January this year, outlawed the public display of prohibited Nazi symbols as well as symbols used by banned terrorist organisations, including the Hezbollah flag.
Hamas, in its entirety, is designated as a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, Israel, Canada, the UK and the US.
Some countries list only its military wing as a terrorist group.
The UN has not condemned Hamas in its entirety as a terrorist organisation, due to insufficient support from member states to do so during a 2018 vote.
