‘Not tolerating that crap’: Lord Mayor condemns posters of alleged Bondi shooter across Melbourne
The Mayor of Melbourne has slammed vandals who hijacked a Melbourne-wide art series celebrating the country’s multiculturalism and replaced posters in the city with the face of the alleged Bondi gunman.
Nearly 50 knockoff prints of Adelaide artist Peter Drew’s recognizable “Australian” poster have been hung in parts of Melbourne’s CBD, featuring the face of Naveed Akram, one of the alleged attackers behind the Bondi terror attack that killed 15 people and injured 40 others.
Mayor Nick Reece told NewsWire the original posters were “a powerful provocation about Australia’s history and national identity”.
“They are also great art,” he said.
“His posters are a good example of the role contemporary street art can play in politics as a tool of social activism.”
He said the hijacked posters were “clearly a deliberate and organized practice to shock and spread hatred” and had been removed from the walls.
“It is absolutely disgusting that Drew’s work has been usurped and transformed into images of hatred and divisiveness,” Mr. Reece explained.
“Using the image of the Bondi attacker is an absolute abomination. Families are still mourning, society is still mourning, 15 people are dead, including a 10-year-old girl.”
He said there was “no possible universe” in which the knockoff posters could be interpreted as “an artistic response to the original series”.
“This was clearly a deliberate and organized practice to shock and spread hatred and we will not tolerate this nonsense placed on the walls of our city,” Mr Reece said.
He said the posters were removed by the municipality within an hour of the notice.
He said CCTV footage showed the perpetrators were “clearly visible”.
“About 50 posters were hung all over the city. The details we have show that this was a coordinated effort,” he said.
“Our approach is ‘whatever it takes’. We will not tolerate hateful, racist material on the streets of our city, not even for one hour.”
Mr Reece said Victoria Police had been notified about the posters.
