A group of protesters inside a mosque in Sydney heckled leftist Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Friday morning.
Australia’s ABC News reports Albanese and Burke visited the Lakemba mosque in western Sydney as it held a ceremony to mark the end of Ramadan. The mosque is owned by the Lebanese Muslim Association.
The pair were sitting while a speech was being delivered when a group began booing and shouting at the prime minister amid increasingly chaotic scenes.
“Boo Tony Burke, boo Albanese,” “genocide supporters,” and “get them out of here” where some of the things that the hecklers shouted at Albanese and Burke, per ABC News. GB News detailed that one man could be heard shouting “putrid dog,” while Sky News reported that “shame,” and “Allahu Akbar” was also shouted.
“You called him honorable, he’s responsible for the deaths of one billion people, one billion of our brothers and sisters,” one of the hecklers exclaimed.
The hecklers were reportedly escorted out by people inside the mosque.
Albanese reportedly downplayed the incident, asserting there were more than 30,000 people attending the ceremony at the mosque where, he said, “overwhelmingly the reception was incredibly positive.”
The prime minister also told reporters he and Burke remained at the mosque until the end of the speech, dismissing reports suggesting that he was rushed out of the building.
“I walked through the crowd to the mosque, and not a single person heckled. There were a couple of hecklers inside; they were dealt with,” he said.
“Contrary to what’s been suggested, no-one was rushed out,” he continued. “We just sat there … it was dealt with by the community themselves because overwhelmingly they did not want that to occur.”
Per Reuters, Albanese said that some “frustration” stemmed from the Australian government’s decision to designate the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir as a prohibited hate group earlier this month. The BBC detailed that Friday’s event marked the first time the mosque had invited to attend prayer ceremonies since the start of the war in Gaza in 2023.
The Lebanese Muslim Association released a statement through social media addressing the incident.
“We are aware of the reaction to the Prime Minister’s attendance and we understand that emotions are high, particularly given the ongoing suffering in Gaza and the devastation in Lebanon. These are not distant issues for our community. They are deeply personal, and they shape how many people feel in this moment,” the statement read in part.
Gamel Kheir, secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association, spoke with ABC and defended the organization’s decision to invite Albanese on Burke, but acknowledged that he knew it would “upset” community members who “felt frustrated and alienated over a rise in Islamophobia.”
“This is controversial in trying to get the prime minister to a sacred place like a mosque, I appreciate that,” Kheir told ABC. “But there has to be a way where you have access to government in order to express the anger.”
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