Far right protesters opposed to Yarra Council's decision to ban Australia Day have stormed a council meeting.
Nine protesters from the Party for Freedom group, armed with megaphones and clutching signs reading "Love it, or leave it", gathered out the front of the Richmond Town Hall just after 7pm on Tuesday to rally against the controversial decision.
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Protesters storm council meeting over Australia Day ban
Nine protesters from the Party Freedom Group interrupted a Yarra Council meeting to rally against the decision to stop referring to January 26 as Australia Day. Vision courtesy: Channel 7's Sunrise.
Neil Erikson, who had been convicted in court earlier in the day for his role in staging a mock beheading to protest a Bendigo mosque, was among the protesters who stormed the council chamber holding a megaphone.
Hours after being found guilty and fined in court, Erikson led protesters into the council chamber, Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly said.
![Far right protesters opposed to Yarra Council's decision to ban Australia Day have stormed a council meeting.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170907013109im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/b/k/x/7/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gybkp4.png/1504654050967.png)
Erikson later uploaded video footage of the incident to YouTube, showing the group yelling at councillors "shame on you" and "you're a disgrace".
The protesters were draped in Australian flags and had cameras attached to their bodies filming the disruption.
One of the protesters had also been at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday to support Erikson and his co-accused.
The police were called to the town hall shortly after the group gatecrashed the meeting.
Yarra last month voted to stop referring to January 26 as Australia Day and to cease holding any citizenship ceremonies on that day from 2018.
Councillors voted to replace its citizenship ceremony with an event "marking the loss of Indigenous culture".
![United Patriots Front member Neil Erikson outside Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday, hours before the council ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170907013109im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/a/w/b/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gybkp4.png/1504654050967.jpg)
Yarra's move prompted a furious political backlash, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull telling parliament the decision was "utterly out of step with Australian values.
Cr Jolly said the group charged into the chamber moments after the council had passed a motion to commemorate the life of Labor MP Fiona Richardson who died recently.
"It was a really touching moment and they completely destroyed that," he said.
"Rather than come along and speak in public question time like everybody else they attempted to shut down the democratic process."
Cr Jolly, who can be seen seated in the video wearing a grey beanie, said the group were hurling abuse at councillors and made "absolute idiots of themselves", as stunned children and residents sitting in the chamber looked on.
He said he believed the intention of the group was to intimidate the council into closing the meeting.
"There is plenty of room for people to have debate, but this was something totally different, it was a direct move against the democratic process that we haven't seen in recent times," Cr Jolly said.
"Australians fought and died trying to protect people from the Nazis, yet we have this group of people tonight, in modern day Australia, who are saying 'we don't like what you do, so we are going to destroy it'."
Cr Jolly said the protesters left minutes after entering the council chamber with police arriving shortly after.
"We refused to be intimidated and we continued with the meeting after they left," he said.
"No matter what they were about, we will not accept that."
The City of Darebin in Melbourne's north, which included suburbs of Northcote, Thornbury, Preston and Reservoir, also voted to follow the lead of neighbouring Yarra in moving its Australia Day events from January 26 despite warnings from the Turnbull government it would be stripped of its rights to hold any future citizenship ceremonies.
![United Patriots Front leader leader Blair Cottrell outside Melbourne Magistrates Court](http://web.archive.org./web/20170907013109im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/a/w/c/2/image.imgtype.articleLeadwide.620x349.png/1504607785572.png)
United Patriots Front leader leader Blair Cottrell outside Melbourne Magistrates Court Photo: Eddie Jim
Erikson, 32, and United Patriots Front leader Blair Cottrell, 27, and supporter Christopher Shortis, 46, were all found guilty by a magistrate on Tuesday of inciting contempt, revulsion or ridicule of Muslims, after staging a mock beheading.
Magistrate John Hardy said the three men "crossed the line" when they made a video in which they beheaded a dummy with a toy sword outside the Bendigo City Council offices.
Also in the video, the men chanted "Allahu Akbar" and spilled fake blood on the footpath and wall of a garden bed beside the offices.
The stunt on October 4, 2015, was in protest at the council approving the building of a mosque in Bendigo.
The three men are expected to appeal the decision.