Neo-Nazi leader charged as attack victims fear reprisal

Police have swooped on neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell and two other members of his group as they exited a Melbourne courtroom, arresting them and later charging them in relation to a violent attack on an Indigenous protest site.

Despite being clearly visible in shocking footage of an attack on Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne’s Kings Domain, Sewell remained a free man on Tuesday morning when he disrupted a Victorian government press conference in West Melbourne.

Late on Tuesday, police charged all three men following the affray and assaults that took place at Camp Sovereignty about 5pm on Sunday.

“A 32-year-old man from Balwyn, a 23-year-old man from Mooroolbark and a 20-year-old man from Ardeer have been interviewed and charged by police,” police said in a statement.

Sewell has been charged with violent disorder, affray, assault by kicking, discharging a missile and other offences. He has been remanded to appear at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

The other two men charged – a 23-year-old man from Mooroolbark and a 20-year-old man from Ardeer – have been bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 10 December.

Sewell’s actions drew condemnation from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who described the extremists’ aggression as “horrific” and said he was stunned the group was “openly in uniform” during a march in Melbourne on Sunday, staged as part of a national anti-immigration protest.

Video footage captured Sewell and dozens of others of black-clad men charging up the hill in Melbourne’s Kings Domain on Sunday after the end of that day’s anti-immigration March for Australia rally in the CBD, where he was speaking. A violent confrontation between Indigenous activists and far-right extremists followed, in which one woman was hit in the head with a pole and another was repeatedly kicked.

Camp Sovereignty founder Uncle Robbie Thorpe confirmed police spent several hours on Tuesday taking statements from witnesses and alleged victims of Sunday’s attack, some of whom had initially been reluctant to speak to police for fear of reprisal from the far-right extremists.

“They were stupid enough not to have their masks on, they are all identifiable and the person who took the video is co-operating with police,” he said.

On Tuesday morning, Sewell confronted Premier Jacinta Allan and shouted “Heil Australia” before he was restrained by protective services officers and the premier and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes left the park.

Sewell claimed his appearance at the event was a coincidence, but the premier’s office was reviewing safety protocol for future press conferences as a result of Tuesday’s incident. The Victorian government does not comment on specifics of the premier’s security arrangements.

Sewell was on his way to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court to contest a string of separate charges for allegedly intimidating a police officer and contravening two personal intervention orders last year.

He was arrested over the Camp Sovereignty attack during a break in proceedings for the police intimidation case, when he exited the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court building and was swarmed by waiting police officers.

Fellow neo-Nazi Nathan Bull, who filmed Sewell’s confrontation in West Melbourne on Tuesday morning, was among the three arrested outside the court, where about 25 police had gathered on Tuesday afternoon. The third man was wearing a shirt with the slogan “F--- off we’re full.”

Sewell has a history of racism and violence, including terrorising a group of hikers in the Grampians in 2021 and stealing their mobile phones. The 32-year-old has described himself as a “political soldier for the white race and Adolf Hitler is my leader”, and that he adheres to neo-Nazi ideology and believes he is in a “race war”.

In March 2021, Sewell attacked a security guard outside Channel Nine’s Docklands headquarters – which also houses The Age offices – ahead of a Current Affair broadcast about his group.

Despite his violent history and self-professed Nazi views, Sewell was given a prominent platform at Melbourne’s anti-immigration “March for Australia”, where he addressed a crowd of a few thousand.

Tuesday’s arrests came just after two unidentified men entered courtroom 27, where Sewell had been contesting the intimidation charge, and got into a heated confrontation with Sewell and his supporters.

About a dozen police officers broke up the verbal altercation.

In Tuesday morning’s caucus meeting in Canberra, the prime minister labelled the neo-Nazis’ gatecrashing of the Victorian press conference “horrific”.

Albanese went on to say he was stunned that neo-Nazis were “openly in uniform” at Sunday’s anti-immigration demonstrations.

But, he added: “We have to make sure we give people space to move away, and to not push them further down that rabbit hole.”

Deakin University Associate Professor Josh Roose, an expert on right-wing extremism, said the past three days showed a shift in the character of the National Socialist Network that warranted attention.

“They’ve gone from that extremism to a violent extremist movement, which is a significant escalation that we all need to be aware of, both at the political level, but also at the law enforcement level,” Roose said.

“That does have ramifications for both the allocation of resources, but also the treatment of these individuals within the system as well.

“It’s clear that somewhere, potentially, at their recent Victorian meeting, has been a determination that they’re shifting towards violent action.”

Roose said authorities needed to get creative to deal with the issue, pointing to anti-association laws used against bikie gangs as an example of further policy options.

“The fact that they’ve done this and that they’re escalating needs full attention from the authorities,” he said.

The Victorian government’s new criminal offence for serious anti-vilification comes into effect later this month.

The federal government has the powers to declare proscribed terrorist organisations; however the National Socialist Network has so far failed to meet the threshold to fit into this category.

In a statement late on Tuesday morning, Allan said she was OK after her press conference was ambushed and wore the neo-Nazis’ hatred of her “as a badge of honour”.

“I am unharmed and undeterred following this morning’s events at a press conference,” the premier said. “But this isn’t about me. It’s about all the other people in the community who Nazis target – like multicultural people, LGBTIQA+ people, First Peoples, and Jews.”

She said “these goons” will fail in their attempt to whip up fear and divide Victoria, adding: “As premier, I’ll always be out and about in public fighting for you, like I am all day today. I am not afraid.”

Allan, at her disrupted press conference on Tuesday, condemned despicable acts of violence and racism and said she would be convening the anti-hate taskforce with Victoria Police this week.

She said people’s sense of economic insecurity was being exploited by those who wanted to sow division, and “hating on your neighbour”.

“There is no doubt that over the past few years, Australians have endured a lot. It’s been a tough time, but the solution to those tough times is not in a quest to divide us.”

A police spokeswoman said authorities were aware of an incident in which a man was verbally abusive towards the premier.

“The premier’s security team intervened to ensure the safety of everyone present and the man left shortly after,” she said.

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