‘Are any Jews here?’
The main victim of a homophobic and antisemitic protest by neo-Nazis at a recent youth festival in Melbourne was Belial B'Zarr, a drag artist who was hired for the event.
A Moonee Ponds youth festival was the target of a homophobic and antisemitic protest by neo-Nazis earlier this month.
The main victim of the attack was Belial B’Zarr, a drag artist who was hired for the event, who shared in a Facebook post that the offenders were screaming “are there any Jews here?”
He told The AJN, “It is concerning that they had a specific go at me.”
He also explained that he had a feeling something was going on as, “When I got to the event, there were a few more cops than I thought seemed necessary for a kids event.”
The neo-Nazis held signs incorrectly spelling B’Zarr’s name, followed by “demon flesh”, with another sign reading, “drag pedos groom kids”. B’Zarr said the signs were particularly “frustrating” as he himself is “literally a victim of grooming”.
Twitter users also spoke out after the incident, explaining that the protesting group were “flashing” the Hitler salute repeatedly.
The Nazi protesters remained at the event for three hours, and were eventually faced by a counter-protest who held signs reading “Nazis out, Drag Queens Welcome,” as well as “Pro-Queer, Anti-fascist, No Nazis.”
Moonee Valley Council released their own statement in support of B’Zarr, with mayor Samantha Byrne saying, “We were especially thrilled we were able to secure terrific performers including drag artist Belial B’Zarr as part of the program.”
“However we were horrified that a handful of protesters chose to target an event for children and young people to try and spread their hate,” she added.
Deputy mayor Jacob Bettio said he would be pushing for even more queer friendly youth events moving forward.
“It is so important we continue to support our young people, children and those in the LGBTQIA+ community,” he said.
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