Hundreds of patriotic protesters have marched through Melbourne’s CBD to show their support for SAS hero Ben Roberts-Smith as he fights war crimes charges.
The demonstration, organised by nationalist community group the National Workers Alliance (NWA), started at 12 pm and included a march with a banner reading “Ben Roberts-Smith VC, warrior not criminal”.
Many attendees wore medals and carried Australian flags, while others held placards and signs saying “warrior not criminal”, “bravery and betrayal” and
“stop the witch-hunt”, and wore T-shirts saying “We stand with Ben Roberts-Smith”.
A small group of Antifa agitators tried to gatecrash the rally but were heavily outnumbered and forced to stand at a distance where they shouted anti-Australian anti-veteran slogans, including “death, death to the ADF”.
The far-left extremists also yelled “always was, always will be aboriginal land” while the Ben Roberts-Smith supporters held a minute of silence in remembrance of fallen Australian soldiers.
Protesters march through Melbourne in support of war hero Ben Roberts-Smith with a banner saying “warrior not criminal”.
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Part of the crowd at the Free Ben-Roberts Smith rally in Melbourne earlier today.
Antifa tried and failed to disrupt it, and then chanted “always was, always will be aboriginal land” during the minute of silence.
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Victoria Police said no arrests were made.
NWA founder and protest organiser Matt Trihey said protesters wanted to express their anger about how the Victoria Cross recipient – Australia’s most decorated living soldier – had been treated by the authorities during a decade-long witch-hunt led by left-win journalists and woke bureaucrats.
“We have a weak government who think they have the right to prosecute men who went to war and happened to be very good at it,” Mr Trihey said.
“[Roberts-Smith] was sent there for a job, and he fulfilled that job,” another attendee said, and a third told 10 News: “We’re all former serving, so we’ve come to support our brothers in arms.”
Iraq War veteran Michael Marley said: “He’s a soldier, serving Australia like the rest of us, the way he’s been treated, I don’t agree with that.”
The protest came after Roberts-Smith was mobbed by supporters while attending an Anzac Day dawn service on the Gold Coast, and delivered a video message urging all ADF members and veterans to be proud of their service.
Header image: The protest banner (supplied).
