Far-left extremists have shared footage of themselves destroying a statue of Captain Cook in Melbourne and vandalising another of Queen Victoria nearby.
Video posted to social media shows members of the militant Wage Peace Disrupt war group using angle grinders and a rope to pull down the bronze statue of the British explorer who discovered Australia, before spray-painting “the colony will fall” on the stone plinth.
The radical leftist group then spray-painted anti-Australian slogans on a nearby stone statue of Queen Victoria, and held up a banner with the Aboriginal flag and the phrase “land back”.
Members of the public had reported the group at about 3.30am on January 25, the day before Australia Day, and Victoria Police said it was investigating, but no arrests have been made despite the activist group publicly claiming responsibility and boasting about their actions online.
The same statue was attacked in 2022, and security had been organised to protect it for Thursday, with guards due to arrive just hours after the damage was done.
Wage Peace Disrupt War describe themselves as a “peaceful” anti-war group that “runs strong campaigns to disturb war and militarism in so-called Australia” and uses “creative non-violence”.
According to their website they do not recognise Australian sovereignty, want to disarm the police, and seek “climate justice”.
Previous protests have been publicised and celebrated by prominent Australian anti-fascist activists.
