SYDNEY: Australia‘s prime minister condemned heckling and booing Friday at two solemn Anzac Day commemorations as “low cowardice”, warning that those responsible would “face the full force of the law”.
Anzac Day originally marked the ill-fated World War I landing of Australia and New Zealand Army Corps troops at Gallipoli, in what is now Turkey, in 1915.
Facing dug-in German-backed Ottoman forces, more than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen were killed in the Allied expedition.This year commemorates the 110th anniversary of the landing.
Anzac Day now also honours Australians and New Zealanders who have served in all wars, conflicts and peacekeeping operations.
Large crowds gathered across cities and towns in both countries just before dawn to pay their respects.
“We, who are gathered here, think of those who went out to the battlefields of all wars but did not return,” said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who attended a service in Canberra.
“We feel them still near us in spirit. We wish to be worthy of their great sacrifice.”
But services in Perth and Melbourne were briefly disrupted by booing and heckling during the Welcome to Country ceremony — a traditional blessing from a local Indigenous elder before an event.
‘Completely disrespectful’
Albanese later described the interruptions as “an act of low cowardice on a day where we honour courage and sacrifice”.
“There is no place in Australia for what occurred. The disruption of Anzac Day is beyond contempt, and the people responsible must face the full force of the law,” he told reporters in Canberra.
The Melbourne interruption was “led by someone who is a known neo-Nazi”, veterans’ affairs minister Matt Keogh said.
“Frankly, when we come together to commemorate on Anzac Day, we’re commemorating some of those soldiers who fell in a war that was fought against that sort of hateful ideology,” he told the national broadcaster ABC.
“And so it was completely disrespectful, and is not something that’s welcome at Anzac Day commemorations, ever.”
When pressed how he knew the identity of the person involved, Keogh said he had “seen the public reporting of at least one of the names of one of the people that was involved”.
Police directed one man — who they have not identified — to leave the event, who they also interviewed “for offensive behaviour”, a Victoria Police spokesperson said in a statement.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was due to attend an Anzac service in Gallipoli.
In a message, King Charles III, the head of state of both Australia and New Zealand, thanked the countries’ World War II veterans for their “selfless service in those most difficult and dangerous times”.
The annual commemoration comes in the run-up to a May 3 election in Australia, where the most pressing issues for both main parties are the cost of living, managing the energy transition and balancing relations with the United States.
The left-leaning government is leading the opposition in opinion polls.
