Prominent nationalist activist Joel Davis will face a one-week trial in Adelaide over a belt buckle with an eagle on it that police allege is a Nazi symbol.
Mr Davis, 31, was arrested on January 29, 2025, while waiting outside court for 15 other then-members of the National Socialist Network to be released on bail after a police crackdown on an Australia Day march, and charged with two counts of “use Nazi symbol” over an NSN patch on his shirt sleeve and the belt buckle.
Prosecutors dropped the patch charge in May, following the withdrawal of “loitering” and “possess article of disguise” charges against most of the other participants in the rally, including Stephen Wells, who spent four months in solitary confinement on remand after refusing to sign punitive bail conditions.
Mr Davis has pleaded not guilty to the remaining Nazi symbol charge, and appeared by audio link in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday where a trial date was set for September in what has been dubbed the “fashion police” case.
Both Mr Davis and the prosecution are set to produce expert witnesses to testify whether the belt buckle, which bears a German Imperial Eagle, constitutes a Nazi symbol under South Australian law.
BREAKING ⚠️
Australian nationalist Joel Davis has been arrested for “loitering” outside an Adelaide court where he was waiting for 16 National Socialist Network members to be granted bail, two days after they were locked up over an Australia Day march.
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Mr Davis was initially arrested for “loitering” while outside court, but was never charged with that offence and footage from 7News shows him telling South Australia Police officer “I’m not loitering”.
When the officers tells him not to raise his voice, Mr Davis said: “I’m sick of you people bending these rules, and bending the laws of this state because it suits you, it’s ridiculous. You are servants of the state, you are beholden to the laws of this country and this state, you don’t get to make up rules as you go along.”
The officer then asked him for ID before a voice could be heard saying “Joel Davis? You were wearing a Nazi symbol on the Sunday? Arrest him”.
Mr Davis then denies wearing a Nazi symbol as he is handcuffed by three officers, asking “what symbol?” and “arrest for what?”
The case comes as Mr Davis fights 20 other charges related to his political activism, including for a speech made at an “abolish the Jewish lobby” rally in Sydney, podcast comments, an election leaflet stunt, and an alleged Telegram post about a federal MP for which he spent 133 days in isolation on remand.
Former National Socialist Network leader Thomas Sewell was also charged over an NSN patch and “loitering” after being arrested while giving a speech during the Australia Day march through Adelaide, where the now-disbanded activist group carried Australian flags and sang Waltzing Matilda.
Both charged were dropped, but Mr Sewell was then charged with breach of bail for travelling to Adelaide to buy Mr Wells a steak after he was released from prison. He planned to contest the charge but was convicted and fined $200 last month in his absence after court officers claimed he did not answer the phone.
Header image: Left, Mr Davis being arrested. Right, at the Adelaide protest (supplied).
