Eltham refugee rally: Scores turn out to support Syrian refugees being resettled
Updated
About 200 people have gathered at Eltham in Melbourne's north in support of a group of Syrian refugees who will be resettled in the area in the coming weeks.
Key points:
- Community paints butterflies on footpaths to welcome group of Syrian refugees to Eltham
- Anti-immigration protesters hold separate demonstration
- The group is part of the Government's one-off intake of 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees
Up to 120 Syrian refugees will be given accommodation in a disused section of St Vincent's Health, an aged care facility in Eltham, as part of the Federal Government's one-off humanitarian intake of 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
Supporters on Saturday held signs saying "welcome refugees" as the group marched through Eltham and rallied outside the aged care facility.
One of the participants, Eltham resident Christine Crowle, said she believed the majority of the community supported refugees.
"We just wanted to do something really passive, just to give the message [that refugees are welcome]. I think 90 per cent of Eltham supports this," she said
The rally was planned to respond to a separate demonstration by anti-immigration groups later in the day.
About 150 anti-immigration protesters, some waving Australian flags and holding signs saying, "no refugees in aged care", participated in the second protest, which started at 12:00pm.
Police in riot gear and on horseback watched over both rallies and kept the two groups separate. There were no reports of incidents.
"We're generally happy with the outcome of today's rallies — there was no violence, no injuries, no arrests," Commander Russell Barrett said.
Painted butterflies to welcome refugees to Eltham
In recent days local residents have spray-painted footpaths in the area with butterflies, a symbol to welcome the refugees to the area.
"In the 1980s in Eltham, the Eltham Copper Butterfly was an endangered species and the community rallied together successfully to save it," Gillian Essex from the Welcome to Eltham group told AM.
"Now we're rallying together again from outside people who are coming in to protest to try to tell us who we should be accepting in our community.
"It's really up to us and we are really looking forward to welcoming these refugees."
Catholic Care, the agency charged with resettling the refugees, said it was carefully managing community expectations.
"There are people in Eltham who have been unsure of what's happening, so we've been working very hard to get the facts out in into the community around what is happening," Catholic Care deputy chief executive Sheree Limbrick said.
"Once they do understand some of the facts around how the project's going to operate, the support that's being offered the sorts of families that will be coming into the accommodation, a lot of peoples' fear and anxiety has diminished."
The Eltham demonstrations came as thousands gathered in Melbourne's CBD to call on the Federal Government to close offshore detention centres.
Cars and trams came to a standstill as more than 3,000 people marched down Swanston Street holding signs and chanting "let them stay" and "refugees welcome".
Topics: refugees, immigration, community-and-society, activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, eltham-3095, melbourne-3000, vic, australia
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