Seven people arrested at Milo Yiannopoulos’ Sydney talk
Seven people have been arrested after clashing with police and fans outside the secret Sydney talk of controversial far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos.
Yesterday, the venue at Le Montage in Lilyfield, Sydney, was guarded by mounted police, riot squad officers and police vans.
Organisers left the location of the event a secret until an hour before it began due to security concerns.
As fans of the controversial commentator arrived, protestors chanted, “Muslims are welcome, Milo is not,” and “Nazi scum off our street”.
Four people were arrested for breaching the peace, one for assaulting a police officer, one for affray and one for not complying with direction.
The protestors waved red flags and as the attendees – who paid almost $1000 for their tickets – arrived, chanted, “racist, sexist, anti-queer, Milo is not welcome here”.
Inside the venue, supporters cheered as Yiannopoulos stepped on stage to the sound of Madonna’s “Vogue” while wearing a leopard print fur coat.
Twenty minutes into the talk, a man was reportedly evicted by security for throwing a shoe at Yiannopoulos.
On Monday, Yiannopoulos’ Melbourne event experienced clashes and tour promoter Damien Costas told news.com.au that Milo and his team “knew for a fact there is going to be a repeat incident” in Sydney.
In Melbourne, two protestors were arrested for “discharging missiles”, with five officers suffering minor injuries.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane said the incident unfolded because of “Kardashian-style politics”, where groups use attention-grabbing behaviour to promote their causes.
“What we’re seeing in the whole world is if you don’t have a 30-second grab of something really exciting, then you’re not going to make the front page of the news,” he told reporters on Tuesday.
“Both these groups — the left and the right — will do everything they can to go and attack the police to get that one shot where it looks like the police are responding in an aggressive way.
“It looked like a battlefield from an aerial platform.”