Hecklers boo Welcome to Country address at Melbourne Anzac Day dawn service
A police investigation has been launched into the incident at the dawn service.
Photo:
ABC News / Danielle Bonica
Political leaders have condemned hecklers who booed Indigenous Australians at Melbourne's Anzac Day dawn service.
About 50,000 had gathered at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance on Friday morning for the dawn service.
Follow updates on RNZ's blog
But the solemn mood of the event was broken during a Welcome to Country address given by Gunditjmara man Uncle Mark Brown, when members of the crowd began to jeer and heckle.
Some hecklers demanded the Welcome to Country be stopped, but were drowned out by applause from the rest of the gathered crowd.
Photo:
ABC News / Nicholas Hynes
Police were later seen escorting prominent neo-Nazi Jacob Hersant away from the service.
In November, Hersant was the first Victorian found guilty of performing an illegal Nazi salute in public has been jailed for one month.
The ABC understands a group of far-right extremists were present at the Shrine.
In a statement, Victoria Police confirmed a 26-year-old man from Kensington was being investigated over the heckling.
"Police are aware of a small group of people disrupting the dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance this morning," a Victoria Police spokesperson said.
"He has subsequently been interviewed for offensive behaviour and police will proceed via summons."
"To pierce the sombre silence and to pierce the solemnity of the dawn service isn't just disrespectful, it dishonours the very thing that the men and women who fought and lost their lives is about," Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said.
"For a neo-Nazi to come along and show that level of disrespect and dishonour to every man and woman who has served our nation with pride, honour and dignity - I absolutely condemn this behaviour."
Photo:
ABC News / Danielle Bonica
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the presence of neo-Nazis was "a disgrace."
"They have no place at all and they're a stain on our national fabric and they are not part of the Australian culture," he told reporters.
"Nothing should overshadow what it is to be here to commemorate and to celebrate the contribution over successive generations of those that have served in uniform... I'm sure that every right-thinking Australian would be disgusted and appalled by the behaviour."
Dutton said the Welcome to Country was "an important part of official ceremonies and it should be respected" and said he did not "agree with the booing".
Victorian governor Margaret Gardner was also booed during her speech at the service, after acknowledging the traditional owners of the land.
Defence Minister Richard Marles was present at the Shrine of Remembrance and called the incident "an outrage", but said only a tiny section of the crowd was involved.
"The vast majority of the tens of thousands of people who were here at the Shrine of Remembrance this morning were here to commemorate," he said.
"It's really important that as we should rightfully condemn the actions of those few idiots, we don't let it take over what is a really sacred and significant day."
Photo:
ABC News / Danielle Bonica
Veterans Minister Matt Keogh said on the ABC's Radio National Breakfast the booing was "completely disrespectful, and is not something that's welcome at Anzac Day commemorations ever".
Shadow Veterans Minister Barnaby Joyce said Anzac Day was "the most sacred day for us... and the dawn service is probably our most sacred ceremony, and any person who desecrates that in any way, shape or form is a complete and utter disgrace."
RSL Victoria president Robert Webster was also quick to condemn the disruptors.
"The actions of that very small minority was completely disrespectful to veterans and the spirit of Anzac Day," he said.
"In response to that, the applause of everybody else attending drowned it out and showed the respect befitting of the occasion."
Military veteran and Kamilaroi man Dean Duncan said the incident at the Shrine of Remembrance was incredibly disappointing.
"It's a day that we're proud of, particularly as Aboriginal people, that we've served our country," Duncan said.
"When you've got people who disrespect the whole of the Anzac concept by doing that, it just erodes any positives on the day."
Duncan said the heckling had detracted from the true focus of the day.
"It is a pretty solemn occasion for us to come together to celebrate and commemorate the Anzacs," he said.
"The whole focus should be on that, not on one particular item on the agenda, which was the Welcome to Country."
-ABC
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