March for Australia organiser Hugo Lennon told 3AW he was excited for a “big day” ahead.
“Hopefully one of the biggest Australia Days, or at least public displays on Australia Day, in years,” Lennon said.
“The March for Australia at previous events has been a call to end mass immigration. The message is very much the same this time around, however, of course, affirming this on our national day.
“We will gather (at Flinders Street Station) at midday. I guess it’s a pretty big headache for the police. You’ve got two groups diametrically opposed, who are gathering in the city, but we’ve worked with them very closely and made sure that we’re not going to be running into the other group.
Lennon said the last two marches held by the group “went smoothly”, but protesters faced “extreme violence” from the other side.
“We’re here to celebrate. We have our own message to send, we’re not interested in brawling in the street. We would be taking any direction from police that would reduce any chance of violence against us.
“It would be a nightmare (for police). There’s so much on in the city already, I imagine they’ll be stretched quite thin today.
When asked about reports that police would be out wearing helmets and protective gear today, Lennon said he was worried.
“It does worry me because what we saw at the last March for Australia: we had a group of radicals throwing at police rocks, glass, urine, various missiles. The police line was formed between us and them so all those projectiles were aimed at us.
“What we are doing is celebrating. We are affirming [that] we are Australia. We are done with the sort of guilt politics. We are here today to make a very public stand against that. The majority of Australians support Australia Day on January 26 and that has been under threat.”
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