Three nationalist activists will face trial next year over an alleged counter-protest against illegal immigrant so-called refugees who were demanding permanent visas at a demonstration in Melbourne.
Thomas Sewell, 33, Joel Davis, 31, and Nathan Bull, 24, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday to fight “offensive behaviour” charges laid over the alleged incident in Docklands in 2024, and a three-day hearing was set down for February next year.
Mr Davis also appeared in relation to nine “hate speech” charges laid by Victoria Police earlier this year over alleged comments he made about Jews, Africans and Indians on the Joel & Blair Show podcast, and for an election stunt, which he will contest at three separate trials next year.
Footage of the counter-protest:
Exclusive video obtained by Noticer News shows Victoria Police using pepper spray and batons on peaceful nationalist protesters who turned up at a “refugee” rally in Docklands, Melbourne, on Tuesday.
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Next month he has a five-day trial in South Australia over a belt buckle with an eagle on it he wore at an Australia Day march in Adelaide, and in February he will face court in Sydney after pleading not guilty to a racial vilification charge laid over a protest against Jewish lobby influence outside NSW Parliament last year.
Mr Sewell previously beat an offensive behaviour charge laid over a rally by former National Socialist Network (NSN) members in Ballarat, and is set to go to trial at the County Court in Melbourne in November over an unrelated alleged clash with far-left extremists at “Camp Sovereignty” in August last year.
Mr Bull has also been charged over that alleged incident, has a week-long trial of his own in November alongside fellow activist Jacob Hersant for “grossly offensive behaviour” for alleged Halloween costumes, and is appealing a conviction for “offensive behaviour” over a meme T-shirt and a Nazi salute that was legal at the time.
In May Mr Hersant beat an offensive behaviour charge laid over another NSN protest where activists held a banner saying “mass deportations now” in Melbourne’s CBD.
The demonstration at the centre of the counter-protest was billed as a “closing rally” after police ordered a group of immigrant protesters to pack up a noisy encampment outside the Home Affairs office, and was gate-crashed by the NSN, who allegedly held a banner saying “f*ck off we’re full”.
There were no clashes between the rival protest groups, but police used pepper spray on the NSN activists and struck them with batons, leading Mr Sewell to be charged and convicted of police intimidation for comments he made about one of the officers on a podcast following the rally.
Pro-refugee activists held similar protests in other major cities during the same period, and last month it was revealed that more than 30,000 illegal boat arrivals have been given permanent visas by the Labor government since 2023.
Mr Davis’s impending vilification charge trials come amid growing opposition to Australia’s federal and state “hate speech” laws, with thousands of protesters taking to the streets ahead of the White Australia Party’s High Court challenge last month.
One Nation has promised to scrap all “hate speech” laws if elected, but in its Victorian state election policy released on the weekend did not mention the state’s anti-vilification legislation, dubbed the “Sam Kerr laws” because they cannot be used to prosecute antiwhite racism.
Header image: Left, Joel Davis faces off with a far-left protester at the rally. Right, the banner held by the NSN (Noticer News).
