Summarised by Centrist
The New Zealand-born leader of an Australian neo-Nazi group, Thomas Sewell, is facing renewed criminal charges and calls for deportation after a violent attack on a First Nations protest camp in Melbourne.
Police said about 40 men dressed in black, some carrying sticks and flagpoles, stormed Camp Sovereignty after an anti-immigration rally on Sunday. Four protesters were injured, two badly enough to require overnight hospital care.
A petition demanding Sewell’s deportation back to New Zealand has reached 50,000 signatures. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the violence as “quite horrific,” while Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said she “never expected to come face-to-face with a neo-Nazi at a press conference” after two men disrupted her media event on Tuesday.
Sewell was arrested the same day and appeared in court charged with intimidating a police officer and breaching an intervention order from 2024. Police confirmed they were investigating both the camp attack and the disruption at Allan’s press conference.
Federal MP Josh Burns condemned the group’s tactics, saying: “Seeing neo-Nazis cowardly walk around our streets in masks and in uniform, in black-cladded clothes, cowardly hiding their own identities, is completely unacceptable.”
Sewell has long been a high-profile figure in Australian extremist circles. He has faced previous charges linked to violent assaults and intimidation. Under Australia’s deportation rules, he could be sent back to New Zealand after criminal proceedings are complete.
The story comes as New Zealand tightens its own deportation rules, with more than 20,000 visa overstayers now identified.
Read more over at The NZ Herald
Image: Thomas Sewell
