Indigenous People to Rally in Sydney Against Extremism

Rally on Sept. 13 will feature banners declaring ‘Sovereignty Never Ceded.’

A woman holds a Aboriginal Flag during a rally demanding action on Yuendumu deaths in police custody at Sydney Town Hall on June 7, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Indigenous groups will take to the streets of Sydney on Sept. 13 as part of a National Day of Action Against Racism and Fascism.

The Blak Caucus, supported by Gadigal people and other groups, announced the rally in response to the violent attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne and the fringe extremists at recent immigration protests.

Gadigal Elder Aunty Rhonda Dixon Grovenor said the Melbourne incident recalled earlier attacks on Aboriginal people.

“This brought back memories of how our camps were attacked during the invasion, and how police tried to tear down the Tent Embassy in 1972,” she said.

“We must take a stand to say no more. All people who love these lands are welcome here,” she told Guardian.

The Sydney march will carry banners with the slogans: “Sovereignty Never Ceded,” “No to Nazis,” “No to White Supremacy,” “Stand With Camp Sovereignty,” and “Corroboree Not Colony.”

Anger at Rising Extremism

Organisers said the action is a direct response to neo-Nazi intimidation, warning it has no place in Australia.

“Blackfullas have been resisting attacks from Nazis and white supremacists for generations,” the Blak Caucus wrote on social media.

They added that institutional policies and rhetoric, from governments and the media, fuel the environment in which extremist groups thrive.

The call comes after tens of thousands of Australians rallied nationwide on Aug. 31, demanding the government slow migration.

Demonstrators linked high arrivals to soaring housing costs, hospital strain, and congestion. In Adelaide and Melbourne, the protests descended into clashes despite heavy police deployment.

Political Leaders Condemn Violence

Federal Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly acknowledged there were genuine concerns about housing and infrastructure but argued that many rallies were clearly directed at migrants from “countries that have brown people.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said she “felt sick” watching a video of self-proclaimed neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell confronting Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan during a press conference.

“This sickness has to be removed,” Ley told Nine. “We need to de-radicalise, de-escalate, work together as a society to tackle what I’m seeing as a troubling trend—an escalation in political violence.”

Ley added, “This is not who we are as Australians. This is not the country that I migrated to as a teenager for a better chance at a life that has delivered so much.”

Allan, who was verbally abused at the event, said she was “unharmed and undeterred.”

Organisers of the Sydney rally said their gathering would send a clear message: sovereignty was never ceded, and fascism has no future on Gadigal Country.