HATE GROUP STALKS FAMILIES
‘Patriots’ secretly photograph, ridicule Muslims in Geelong
A FAR-RIGHT group is stalking and secretly filming Muslims in Geelong before posting the images online and publishing hateful comments, including: “Garbage bags walking around Geelong taking our air!!!”.
FAR-RIGHT nationalists are stalking and secretly filming Muslim women in Geelong.
The Geelong Advertiser has seen a post on the Infidel Brotherhood Victoria page that shows a video and photos of a group of people — some of them wearing hijabs — enjoying a picnic overlooking Corio Bay.
It is understood the post, which led to a flurry of threatening comments about Muslims, has been forwarded to the National Security Hotline.
The footage appears to have been taken on Tuesday in Eastern Park, near Hearne Pde.
The post is accompanied with the comment: “Garbage bags walking around Geelong taking our air!!!”
The private Facebook group has more than 1100 members and operates in secrecy, telling prospective members only “patriots” were welcome to join.
The man who posted the photos — who we have chosen not to name — is listed as one of the group’s online adminis- trators. Vulgar and inflammatory comments followed the post, including from the initial poster. One contributor simply wrote: “Exterminate.”
Geelong Imam Mohammad Ramzan said he was unaware of the incident and it was the first time he had heard of Muslims being secretly filmed in the region.
“If that’s happening, every single citizen of Australia will be concerned about that,” he said. “And not just as a Muslim; as a citizen of Australia, I am concerned.”
Victoria Police Acting Sergeant Melissa Seach said taking photos of people in public was not an offence.
She also said offensive and threatening comments posted on Facebook was a matter for the social media giant, with police only becoming involved if a victim made a report.
Regardless, Imam Ramzan said privacy was a human right and needed to be respected.
“Before we are Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or Christian or not religious, we are human beings, and, as a human being, we have rights,” he said.
“Whatever (faith) we are, first we need to look at our- selves as human beings and the fact we are living together.”
Infidel Brotherhood has chapters in each state of Australia, while several of its members are from Geelong.
Photos posted online in August show seven men — most wearing Infidel Brotherhood shirts — posing together at the Peninsula Hotel in Newcomb.
An event on Facebook shows it is planning to hold a group barbecue in Barwon Valley Park on Australia Day.
In recent years, its members have been present at anti- Islam rallies in Melbourne.
The Facebook post came on the same day neo-Nazi stickers appeared on Yarra St with the message “No Islamic Takeover”.
Islamophobia Register Australia president Brice Hamack said the appearance of the stickers was disheartening.
“It’s obviously concerning any time a radical group attempts to perpetuate xenophobic and anti-minority attitudes,” he said.
“Australian Muslims aren’t trying to take over anything; they are just trying to create a peaceful life for themselves here in Australia despite what radical groups like this would like many to believe.
“It’s blatant false propaganda aimed at spurring violence and hatred against innocent Australian Muslims.”
There are more than 2500 Muslims living in the City of Greater Geelong, accounting for 1 per cent of the municipality’s population.
The Australian Federal Police has been contacted for comment.