Two prominent Australian nationalists have spoken out about their treatment by South Australia Police and the courts after being controversially arrested while trying to hold a march in Adelaide on Australia Day.
Thomas Sewell, 31, and Joel Davis, 29, both spoke separately to Noticer News on Thursday about a police crackdown on the National Socialist Network (NSN) celebration on January 26 that resulted in 15 members of the right-wing activist group and one other man being held for three days in solitary confinement.
They were held on charges including loitering, possessing a disguise, refuse to give name, displaying a Nazi symbol and assault police.
Video obtained by Noticer News shows nationalist activist Thomas Sewell being arrested seconds into a speech in front of the National War Memorial in Adelaide today.
“I am under arrest for celebrating Australia Day”, he says as police handcuff him. pic.twitter.com/Ac6unpgmTQ
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) January 26, 2025
Mr Sewell was released on bail from Adelaide Remand Centre, 14 others were bailed from the city watchhouse, and one man – 55-year-old Stephen Wells from Western Australia – remains in jail on remand and will be challenging his bail conditions from behind bars.
The 16 men arrested on Sunday were kept in single cells for 56 hours at the watchhouse until Tuesday morning, and Mr Sewell said fluorescent lights were kept on continuously.
“The only food we were given was sausage rolls, three times a day, with no tomato sauce. It was un-Australian,” he said.
Mr Sewell, the self-described leader of White Australia, said his organisation would be raising funds for a legal challenge to the bail conditions and a class action against South Australia Police for illegal detention.
He said the political persecution group was facing was something you’d expect to see from Communist China, or the KGB, and said the charges laid against him and his colleagues were a case of “show me the man and I’ll show you the crime”, with police using any laws they could to prevent his group from being politically active.
He also addressed accusations that his group were being disrespectful by gathering at the National War Memorial, which was unveiled in 1931, saying he chose the site to make a speech about the importance of protecting Australia’s monuments following days of attacks on similar sites by far-left extremists in other parts of the country.
Mr Sewell, who was arrested just seconds after starting to speak, said the group had intended to march down North Terrace, passing a number of historically significant monuments, to pay tribute to Australians who sacrificed their lives for their country and highlight the importance of keeping Australia’s cultural heritage alive.
He said that he also chose the spot and the marching direction to the nearby King Edward VII Memorial because it featured a female figure representing justice and holding a fasces, which he pointed would now likely be seen as a “Nazi symbol” by South Australia Police.
BREAKING ⚠️
Australian nationalist Joel Davis has been arrested for “loitering” outside an Adelaide court where he was waiting for 16 National Socialist Network members to be granted bail, two days after they were locked up over an Australia Day march.
Follow: @NoticerNews pic.twitter.com/5D7rQdEgx9
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) January 28, 2025
Mr Davis was arrested on Tuesday while waiting for his colleagues to be released, and charged with two counts of displaying a Nazi symbol, before being released on bail that evening. One of the charges was for his eagle belt buckle, and one is for an NSN patch he wore on his sleeve on Australia Day.
He said police first tried to arrest him for not having ID, then told him he was loitering, and was eventually handcuffed when a counter-terrorism officer accused him of displaying a Nazi symbol during the Australia Day march.
After he was arrested and charged he made a bail application which was immediately refused, he said. Then when he told his court-appointed bail solicitor he wished to challenge his bail conditions, he was informed that there was zero chance the magistrate would alter them, and told to sign or remain in jail until March.
He told Noticer News his bail conditions, which prohibit him from associating with other NSN members, were designed to stop him participating in political activity, and therefore infringed on his civil liberties.
“These arrests and charges are clear political persecution, and they are violations of our constitutional right as Australians to political communication. They are also clear violations of a rational interpretation of the law,” he said.
“The contempt the regime has for not only White Australians but also the principles of liberal democracy itself are on full display.
“I don’t think the prosecution has rational confidence it can jail us with these ridiculous charges, but is engaged in politically motivated lawfare to obstruct our political activity as an organisation.
“I am confident we will ultimately prevail in the courts, but we need the support of the Australian public. Our political freedoms and patriotic honour are on the line here.”
Mr Davis said that neither his belt nor the NSN logo were Nazi symbols, saying if he thought they were he would not have displayed them, as he did not intend to break any laws.
He added that if South Australia state law defined the NSN insignia as a Nazi symbol, it would mean that any logo used by the group would be illegal – a violation of their implied right to political communication as a political group.
In addition, he said the NSN had previously done peaceful demonstrations in Adelaide while wearing their logo, and not only had they not been arrested, but the police had stated that there was no unlawful activity, as had the Police Minister on a separate occasion.
At his appearance at the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday Mr Sewell refused to sign his bail agreement preventing him from associating with other NSN members and entering the CBD, and calling the situation “outright political persecution by corrupt SA Police officers”.
“I do not acknowledge your ability to deny me access to the city of Adelaide as an Australian citizen,” Mr Sewell said.
“I have not broken the law, I was peacefully demonstrating and celebrating Australia Day, our national holiday, in public with my friends – who weren’t wearing disguises.”
When Magistrate Luke Davis suggested Mr Sewell sign his bail agreement, and called it “the preferable option”, Mr Sewell replied: “The preferable option would be if I wasn’t being blackmailed with civil liberties.”
Footage of Mr Sewell’s arrest sparked uproar on social media, with many Australians asking what crime was committed, and asking why far-left anti-Australian protesters were allowed to call for the country to be abolished and hold violent, antiwhite signs, while others pointed out that bail was often granted for people accused of violent offences.
On New Year’s Day in the Adelaide CBD 19 aboriginals were arrested after an alleged drunken rock fight on a city bus which left the bus’s windows smashed and caused the driver and other passengers to flee in fear. One woman was hospitalised and police collected clumps of torn-out hair off the street as evidence.
The 19 alleged brawlers were all taken to the same city watchhouse and charged with aggravated affray and property damage, but unlike the right-wing activists were all released on police bail by mid-morning.
Header image: Left, Thomas Sewell being arrested on Sunday. Right, Joel Davis being arrested on Tuesday (Supplied).
