Dear friends and comrades,

On Sunday, November 1, at 12:25pm, five members of the fascist group the 'United Patriots Front' (UPF) attended the Melbourne Anarchist Club (MAC) in Northcote.

The five confronted a member of the Club who happened to be present: the confrontation was filmed and uploaded to the UPF Facebook page.

Obviously, the UPF intended their visit to intimidate the MAC, local anarchists, and all those in Melbourne who reject fascism.

In this context, we deeply appreciate the solidarity displayed by local anti-fascists who attended the space later that day in support.

The MAC is issuing this statement in order to re-affirm our commitment to anarchist politics and to appeal to the broader community to join us in a public refusal of fascist attempts at intimidation.

We appeal to our fellow anarchists, anti-fascists, and all those involved in public campaigns to oppose racism and fascism in Melbourne to attend the Club on our next opening day on Sunday, November 8 from midday onward.

We intend to carry on our work of promoting anarchism, regardless of the UPF's actions.

~ MAC.