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COMMENT Before the violence began, two women wearing niqabs with only their eyes exposed walked past the Coburg library in front of a line of police. It was a bizarre sight. Not because of the women, but because of the 24 police officers, six on horses, blocking the street behind them. Everywhere you looked on Saturday in Coburg, there were lines of police. The usually bustling Sydney Road was a ghost town. Deposits of horse manure littered the streets and lines of people stood about, watching, braced for something. It was a tense atmosphere, fearful. My overriding emotion however, was fury. It's hard to think of a worse outcome for an anti-racism rally than for it to bring Nazis to the streets of Coburg, but that's what happened. Coburg is an incredibly diverse place. Almost 34 per cent of its residents were born overseas, and almost 40 per cent speak a language other than English at home. It's famously welcoming and friendly. Saturday's anti-racism rally – Moreland Says NO To Racism – was organised by Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton months ago. Its purpose was widespread, to protest at the closure of Aboriginal communities, the detention of asylum seekers, and Islamophobia. It had the support of Antifa, the loose-knit network of so-called anti-fascist activists, whose sworn enemy is the far-right, including anti-Islam group the United Patriots Front. Every time the UPF, Reclaim Australia and their ilk hold a rally – for example against the building of the Bendigo mosque – the Antifa brigade turn up and hold a counter protest. And sure enough, when the UPF got wind of the Coburg rally, they swore they would turn up en masse and try to knock some leftie heads together. Before long Moreland Council was asking Cr Bolton and her fellow organisers to cancel the rally to avoid trouble. But they dug in their heels, believing that bowing to the will of the far-right would allow them to dictate the agenda and set a dangerous precedent. Cr Bolton has refused to take any responsibility for the police presence, the shops being forced to shut and for the violence that predictably unfolded between rival groups outside a primary school on Bell Street. But she should. It was incredibly naive not to see that the interest of the UPF was going to be piqued by a rally supported by Antifa, and it's disingenuous to claim that no responsibility for what transpired lies with organisers. People have the right to protest, and that right should be protected and respected. But surely if you're holding a political action like a rally it's worth thinking carefully about what your aims are, and how you'll achieve them, otherwise the whole thing is self-serving. If the rally organisers had held their protest outside the State Library, for example, Coburg's diverse community would not have been besieged by racists on Saturday. The anti-racism rally was peaceful and positive in message. It was attended by young and old. But it also attracted a fringe element – young, masked men (who were indistinguishable from the UPF supporters except they weren't adorned with Australian flags) intent on trouble. Organisers have complained about the media coverage of the anti-racism rally, saying it didn't fairly represent the rally they were at. Perhaps. But the frightening sight of masked men bashing each other with flag poles tends to attract attention. And when the arrests came, there was something striking – but unsurprising – about the reports. A Bendigo man, a Skye man, a Broadmeadows man, a Keilor East man, a Reservoir man and a Gisborne man were arrested. None from Coburg. This wasn't about Coburg. But its residents paid the price. As my husband, toddler and I stood watching, an African-born local turned to us. "What are they trying to prove?" he asked. "What's the point?" It was hard to know what to answer.

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