An anti-Communist activist has been arrested while chanting “USA” at a left-wing extremist demonstration in Sydney against Donald Trump’s military raid on Venezuela and capture of leader Nicolas Maduro.
Brisbane student Drew Pavlou, 26, turned up at the far-left protest outside Sydney’s Town Hall on Sunday afternoon where demonstrators waved Communist flags and held signs saying “hands off Venezuela” and “down with imperialism”.
Mr Pavlou, who regularly protests against the Chinese Communist Party, held up a sign saying “cry more, commie scum”, shouted “fuck Communism”, “down with Communism”, “fuck Maduro”, and chanted “USA, USA, USA” as he walked through the crowd.
A video posted to his social media channels show him then being dragged out of the crowd by Riot Squad police, marched to a police van, searched, and driven away.
Australian police tried to break my arm for chanting ”USA” at a pro-Maduro communist rally in Sydney.
I spent 40 minutes in a cell before they let me go because they couldn’t figure out what to charge me with.
God bless the United States of America where they still have free⦠pic.twitter.com/Jqxo45Ln3s
β Drew Pavlou π¦πΊπΊπΈπΊπ¦πΉπΌ (@DrewPavlou) January 4, 2026
During the arrest Mr Pavlou continued chanting “USA” until the officers pulled his arm up behind his back, and after his release the video showed him rubbing his shoulder and saying: “They legit almost broke my arm, it’s actually fucked. The way they arrested me was extremely brutal.”
“Australian police tried to break my arm for chanting ‘USA’ at a pro-Maduro communist rally in Sydney. I spent 40 minutes in a cell before they let me go because they couldn’t figure out what to charge me with. God bless the United States of America where they still have free speech,” Mr Pavlou wrote on X.
He also said he presented at an emergency department “because I couldn’t feel my fingers”, but left because he was told he wouldn’t be seen for five hours.
A woman was also wearing a “globalise the intifada” T-shirt – a phrase that NSW Premier Chris Minns is attempting to ban as “hate speech” – but she too was released without charge, and NSW Police said two men, including Mr Pavlou, were arrested for “breaching the peace”.
Police had warned protesters not to attend as the demonstration was not authorised due to new laws passed following the Bondi Islamic terrorist attack, but 300 people gathered in the Sydney CBD, with similar rallies held in Melbourne and Brisbane.
βOn 24 December 2025 the Commissioner of the NSW Police Force issued a Public Assembly Restriction Declaration under the Terrorism (Police Powers) Act 2002. This declaration remains in force and operates to restrict the authorisation of public assemblies within the Sydney metropolitan region,” police said.
βAs a result, any assembly planned in support of Venezuela is not authorised and without this authorisation the event is not legally protected as an authorised assembly.”
Mr Pavlou has been vocal in his support of the US military action in Venezuela, writing on X: “I am so embarrassed that I was once a leftist who supported Kamala Harris. Donald Trump is a great man of history – taking out Maduro goes down as one of the greatest moments in the history of the West.”
Header image: Left, right, Pavlou during his arrest (X).
