Two prominent Australian nationalists have been refused permission to attend this year’s Anzac Day Dawn Service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
Tim Lutze and Jimeone Roberts were arrested at the memorial in February and charged with “failure to leave Shrine after direction” after dozens of police turned up to deny their small group entry to a Last Post remembrance service.
The right-wing activists appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday where their lawyer sought to have their bail conditions amended so they could pay their respects at the April 25 ceremony.
The request was rejected by the magistrate, despite Mr Roberts offering to accept any other bail conditions if it meant he could attend the Anzac Day Dawn Service.
Video of the moments before two Australian nationalists were arrested at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance yesterday, showing the huge number of police called out to prevent their small group from attending a service.
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In a video shared to Telegram after the court appearance, Mr Lutze said the February incident was a breach of their rights, and that the pair had been targeted for trying to pay their respects to Australia’s fallen soldiers.
“This is political policing and pre-crime at its most egregious,” he said.
“We intend to contest these charges and take it as far as it needs to go.”
Mr Roberts said that both he and Mr Lutze had ancestors who have fought for Australia, and told Noticer News the magistrates, police and the media were trying to “blot out our Holy days”, “erase our traditions”, and “destroy White Australia”.
“What is happening in this country is a desecration to the memory and the spirit of the Anzacs,” he said.
“White Australians are told they cannot worship at the Shrine of their own ancestors because of their political beliefs.
“Meanwhile, the people the Anzacs fought and died against flock to our shrines as tourists.”
Video of the incident shows a Victoria Police inspector telling the group, which also included National Socialist Network leader Jacob Hersant, he was invoking Section 6 of the Shrine of Remembrance Act, accusing them of breaching the regulations by assembling at the shrine, and ordering them to leave.
“So Australian citizens aren’t allowed to pay respects?” one of the men asked in response, while other questions asking for clarifications on the regulations were ignored by police.
A representative from the shrine then told the group that because there was a specific service honouring war animals the Shrine had decided to deny them entry.
“We believe that it is best that that service is allowed to be conducted without any group who are seeking to demonstrate any level of political allegiance or affiliation that is not related to the purpose of this place,” he said.
“If we come without political memorabilia, can we attend?” Mr Hersant asked, to which the inspector told him he had 30 seconds to move on.
Mr Lutze and Mr Roberts were arrested shortly afterwards.
Their arrests came days after controversy erupted when it was revealed that the Shrine’s Last Post Service was set to be impacted by state government funding cuts to Victoria Police, which covers the costs of the Shrine Guards. The Shrine later insisted the service would not be cancelled.
And late last year veterans slammed Shrine management for making a commercial deal to allow a catering company to host corporate events at the sacred site.
Header image: Left, Mr Roberts with his war veteran grandfather on Anzac Day. Right, Mr Lutze during the February Shrine visit (Supplied).
