Australian PM chased out of mosque by angry crowd | World | News
Anthony Albanese attended the Ramadan event held in one of Australia’s largest mosques (Image: SARAH WILSON/EPA/Shutterstock)
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was kicked out of a mosque by angry Muslims who accused him of being a “genocide supporter” with “blood on his hands”. The riot broke out in one of the country’s largest mosques during a Ramadan celebration on Friday, March 20.
Mr Albanese attended the event at Sydney’s Lakemba Mosque with Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke. But the celebration to mark the end of the religious holiday quickly turned volatile, with crowds attacking the prime minister and questioning why he was attending the ceremony. One of the men shouted at the pair as “supporters of genocide” while the others shouted: “Why is he here? Get him out of here!” he shouted.
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Meanwhile, reportedly TelegramThe mosque’s secretary, Gamel Kheir, appealed to the crowd to calm down. Physical clashes reportedly broke out before the secretary called on people to “engage in frank and open dialogue with our political leaders.”
However, in the footage, one person can be seen shouting, “You called him honorable, he is responsible for the death of one million people, one million of our brothers.” In the footage, shouts of Allahu Akbar and Allah is Great were also heard.
The Prime Minister was removed from the mosque by security guards before his motorcycle left the area. The crowd proceeded to silence him with screams of “shame on you” and the insult “Alba-tizi,” an Arabic play on Mr. Albanese’s surname referring to his hip.
Despite the displeasure, Mr Albanese later posted photos on X of himself shaking hands with people at the event. He wrote: “Happy Eid al-Adha. It is a great honor to have thousands of people join us in celebrating Eid al-Fitr at the Lakemba Mosque this morning.”
He also downplayed the incident to reporters, telling them: “Overwhelmingly, the reception was incredibly positive. I walked through the crowd towards the mosque and not a single person bothered me. There were a few crooks inside; they were dealt with.”
“Contrary to what was suggested, no one was rushed out. We just sat there… the community itself took care of this issue because they overwhelmingly didn’t want it to happen.”
Ugly scenes took place at Lakemba Mosque in Sydney (Image: SARAH WILSON/EPA/Shutterstock)
Mr Albanese has previously noted hostility among Australian Muslim communities over his government’s initial support for Israel’s counter-occupation of the Gaza Strip. There has been a recent loss of trust between the country’s 800,000 Muslims and the Labor government.
Appearing before the prime minister in the mosque, 29-year-old Seklaoui said, “He wants to come here after shaking hands with the President of Israel with blood on his hands. It is a disgrace to come here and act as if nothing happened.”
In February, police forcibly removed Muslim worshipers during a protest against Israeli President Isaac Herzog. There has also been a rise in Islamophobia since the terrorist attack on Bondi Beach in December.
Since then many Muslims have felt abandoned by Mr Albanese and his government. They claim that the Prime Minister has not done enough to protect them from such Islamophobic incidents.
