Early Sunday morning, thousands of people lined the streets to watch the world’s best marathon runners compete and break records in the Sydney Marathon.
Many stayed on and cheered as thousands of amateur runners ran the same streets and distance, crossing the finish line up to five hours after the first male runner, Hailemaryam Kiros, and the first female runner, Sifan Hassan, had done so.
Witnessing people complete a marathon and achieve an epic feat of personal endurance is a truly special experience. It sparks emotional moments of triumph and unity, as seen with Jess Stenson and Lisa Weightman, two Australian women who hugged at the finish line after being at the centre of a selection drama for the Paris Olympics.
Later, the man considered the greatest male runner of all time, Eliud Kipchoge, presented his footprint to Australian marathon legend Rob de Castella, “For all the people of Australia. I want to leave my footprint,” he said. The goal was “for people to get out of their door and run” and “for people to stay positive in their lives.”
“Running can make all Australians united,” he said.
Around the same time, a bunch of self-confessed neo-Nazi men started putting on their black attire and Helly Hansen jackets to venture into the city to join the anti-immigration March For Australia protest.
The members of this neo-Nazi group were later heard using racist rhetoric like “hail White Australia”. Member Jack Eltis told a Ten reporter, “Yeah we are racist, and we’re proud of who we are as white men.”
Asked if they are neo-Nazis by the reporter, Eltis responded, “Yes. We’re national socialists.”
Following the anti-immigration march, the men in black continued their own separate march down Sydney’s King Street into Newtown, a suburb known for its progressive and colourful character.
Seeing scenes of the anti-immigration rally play out after watching the jubilation of the marathon, it was difficult to imagine these were images of the same city.
The unity witnessed among runners and spectators was lost as 1000 police officers and the riot police squad were deployed to ensure the anti-immigration protest remained separate from a counter anti-racist protest, as well as the protest for Gaza that occurs every Sunday in Sydney.
Chants of “send them back” were heard at the rallies, as well as “stop the invasion”. One protester held up a sign depicting an image of Dezi Freeman, the man who shot and killed two police officers last week and is still on the run in regional Victoria.
Similar marches were held across the country, with a number of Australian politicians attending, including Queensland MP Bob Katter, who attended in Townsville — just days after declaring he “punches blokes in the mouth” for asking about his Lebanese heritage — as well as Senator Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts attending in Canberra. In Melbourne, the protests turned violent.
According to various media reports, some protesters booed and left the Sydney event when Jack Eltis took the microphone during the speaking portion. Yet they were united on a shared belief that immigration and migration are the cause of all their woes, from the cost of living to the housing crisis to whatever it is the men in black are upset about.
These anti-immigration protests presented a sombre sight in cities across the country, including as chants of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi, Oi, Oi” echoed down streets. Protesters came together to hear people take to “open microphone” sessions, only to be confronted by neo-Nazi speakers with very little to say. The events looked sparse in many areas, bolstered in numbers by those involved in counterprotests. A man carrying a “Jesus is the way” sign was spotted walking past a man being trampled and hit by protesters in Melbourne.
In Sydney, police estimate 15,000 people attended the anti-immigration protest. More than twice that, 35,000, had registered to run in the marathon event. While not all would have finished, there is something to take away from the fact that more people ran a marathon than attended the March For Australia protest.