00:00I have to stress there was a minority, an absolute minority of people flying those flags.
00:06And I think once the organisers realised, they were actually asked to take them down
00:09and it was made very clear to them that they're not welcome, these Hezbollah flags are not
00:13welcome at this protest, which is about solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
00:17Are you worried at all that the overall message of the protests has been tarnished by people
00:22using it?
00:23Look, there's always that risk.
00:25People use things like this for their own purposes and to use it to smear the broader
00:30pro-Palestine campaign.
00:31But I'm hoping that most people of common sense will realise that this is an absolute
00:34minority and this wasn't a protest in support of Hezbollah in any way, shape or form.
00:39And that the protesters were not here, were not there, sorry, to express any support for
00:45Hezbollah.
00:46That has to be made very clear.
00:48Protest organisers have a responsibility to do what they can do and what they need to
00:52do to ensure that there's peace at the protest, that it's a peaceful protest, that all the
00:57laws are abided by, that they work in collaboration with the Victoria Police, which has happened
01:02for a year now.
01:04And to deliver the message to protesters that this is a peaceful rally, this is purely about
01:08supporting the Palestinians, it is not about supporting any other groups.
01:12And I think the protest organisers are doing what they can and they will continue to do
01:15that, to send that message out.
01:18Does the Islamic Council take steps to discourage the use of extremist symbols in public demonstrations?
01:25What we do, our message to our members and to the broader Muslim community is always
01:29that when we are protesting, we need to do so lawfully.
01:34And if people are doing things that are unlawful, whether it be flying the flag of Hezbollah
01:39or other flags that are unlawful, then clearly we discourage that and we actually ask them
01:44not to do that.
01:45But at the end of the day, people are free to do what they see fit.
01:50All we can do is educate and raise awareness.
01:52Well, I think it's the same message as we've been saying for the last 12 months of protests.
01:58The people protesting in support of the Palestinians and in support of the people of Gaza are not
02:02anti-Semitic.
02:03This is not driven by any hatred for the Jews, this is purely about support of Palestinians.
02:09And I think we can assure the Australian public that there is no one or the absolute
02:14minority of people that would be supporting Hezbollah.
02:18The vast majority of the pro-Palestine movement are supporting the Palestinians.
02:22And so I think that's a message that needs to be reinforced, I think.
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