Backlash against Melbourne restaurant after neo Nazi event
A suburban Melbourne restaurant has come under fire for hosting a neo-Nazi event last weekend.
Urban Street restaurant in McKinnon says they unknowingly hosted the gathering and have since sacked the management that accepted the booking.
The event for members of the National Workers Alliance caused community outrage, as close to 100 people gathered at the popular restaurant, including prominent neo-Nazis Thomas Sewell, Joel Davis and Blair Cotrell.
The group asked the restaurant to black out the windows.
Former Neighbours actor Damien Richardson attended the event and allegedly addressed the crowd.
When news of the event spread, posters calling for the community to boycott Urban Street were circulated.
The posters accuse Richardson of performing a Nazi salute during the event.
“We cannot let neo-Nazis organise and recruit in our communities. Businesses that support anti-Semitism must be shut down,” one of the posters reads.
NWA founder Matthew Trihey said the event was not a far-right meeting and was held to discuss issues of “mass immigration.
“It was a discussion about the importance of western civilisation and the effect mass immigration was having on western countries,” Trihey said.
He refuted claims a Nazi salute was given, but said a joke about it was made.
The restaurant is now considering shutting its doors for the time being.
An Urban Street spokesman defended their decision to host the gathering and said they weren’t aware of the nature of the gathering.
“We have (since) dismissed the manager for an error in judgement,” the spokesman added.
“We sincerely apologise if we offended anybody it was never our intention, we are not a place that holds any type of events that promote any type of racism.
“Because of a silly misjudgement where we got f--ked over because no one told us the truth.”
Jonathan Jackson, 26th September 2024
