Australia Day 2026 LIVE updates: Invasion Day protester BURNS Australian flag and neo-Nazis are busted hiding in the crowd at anti-immigration rally – as cops are forced to swoop on confrontation between rival demonstrators

A Brisbane Invasion Day protester has been photographed setting fire to an Australian flag.

The man (below) watched it burn along with several other protesters.

This comes as Queensland Police were forced to separate protesters in Brisbane’s CBD after two people carrying Australian flags arrived at the Invasion Day protest.

The event at Queens Gardens in the city kicked off at 10am while hundreds more joined the group’s march to Musgrave Park in West End from 12pm.

It’s been reported police spoke with a woman who brandished an Australian flag, as Invasion Day protesters yelled across the street at her.

The woman was heard saying ‘I have a right to stand here’ while she spoke to police.

Several people could be heard yelling ‘f*** off’ at the woman who was surrounded by police before she was moved on.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested after addressing the crowd at a Sydney March for Australia rally.

‘We will allege that the language he used … was clearly signed with neo-Nazi ideology … and the language incited a response from the crowd,’ Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden said.

‘We allege that the language that was used during this open mic session breached, well and truly, the line of free speech to incite hatred towards another group in the community.’

The man allegedly told the crowd that Jews were an ‘enemy to the nation’.

‘None of (the politicians who spoke) called out that the hate speech laws were published by the Jewish lobby groups in Australia, they were behind it all,’ the man allegedly said.

A 31-year-old man was also arrested after addressing the crowd at a Sydney March for Australia rally.l Davis and Thomas Sewell, two prominent members of neo-Nazi groups.

A protester has been taken into custody in Perth after allegedly throwing a suspicious object into the crowd at an Invasion Day rally.

The rally was then evacuated by authorities over concerns about a possible explosion.

Protesters were told to leave the area as ‘something in the crowd poses a risk to your safety’.

‘Significant police resources have been deployed to the area, and an exclusion zone has been established,’ WA Police said.

‘Members of the public are asked to stay away from the area and await further advice.’

It’s understood the device did not detonate and the rally has resumed.

Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, has slammed the burning of the Australian flag at an Invasion Day rally in Brisbane.

He said the actions was ‘deplorable’ and that the majority of Australians would agree.

‘The Australian National Flag, Aboriginal Flag and Torres Strait Islander Flag should all be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve as the nation’s most important national symbols.

‘In certain circumstances, conduct associated with desecration of a flag may constitute an offence under state and territory criminal law, for example, public order or property damage offences.’

A late-day fight has broken out between opposing protesters near Parliament Station.

Police were seen scrambling to keep up and separate those involved, with one man wearing an Australian face scarf taken down and hand cuffed by police.

Just metres away from the small fight other protesters hurled abuse at each other as uniformed cops intervened.

The scuffle erupted as March for Australia protest cleaned a statue of Adam Lindsay Gordon which had been drawn on by Invasion Day protesters this morning.

The March for Australia supporters used their hands and water to wipe away chalk markings.

Others have also been seen trying to clean away other Invasion Day messaging left on the pavement outside Parliament House.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has addressed a March for Australia event at the botanical gardens in Brisbane’s CBD.

Hanson went on stage with a large Australian flag and urged protesters to become part of her political movement.

‘They’re only the polls, but they are showing an indication that you are wanting to vote One Nation,’ Hanson said as orange t-shirt wearing party volunteers roamed the crowd handing out pamphlets.

Hanson also lashed the Albanese government for ‘mass migration’.

‘You’re the one who created this mess, you’re the one who brought all these people into the country – 1560 a day, that’s how many are coming in,’ Hanson told the crowd.

Hanson also said she was ‘disgusted’ by politicians she thought put foreign interests ahead of the Australians they represent.

‘You know what Don Chipp said? He said, “I’m going to keep the bastards honest”, well I’ll tell you what mate, I intend to get rid of the bastards,’ she said.

Hanson was the target of angry chants at the Invasion Day march in Sydney earlier today.

Protesters called on young people to ‘mobilise to fight Pauline’ as the latest Resolve Political Monitor showed One Nation support climb to a record high.

Other speakers at the Brisbane event included Hanson’s fellow One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet.

An Indigenous leader who set the Australian flag on fire at a Brisbane Invasion Day protest said he did it because it ‘doesn’t represent all of us’.

Indigenous man Moojidji (below) addressed the crowd while holding an Australian flag before lighting it on fire and dropping it to the ground.

The flag burning took place next to several people holding a large Aboriginal flag while the crowd could be heard chanted ‘land rights now’.

The protesters then cheered when the flag was set alight.

Moojidji said he burned the flag to challenge the nation’s legal legitimacy the act ‘represented a stand for sovereignty against an ‘illegal entity of law’ and the Australian flag ‘doesn’t represent all of us’.

‘We chant for land rights,’ Moojidji said.

‘We’re not just chanting for ourselves as human beings, we’re chanting for country.’

Moojidji described ‘Invasion Day’ as ‘just another day in the struggle for the movement’.

It’s believed almost 100,000 Invasion Day protesters have been estimated to have joined Melbourne’s Australia Day rallies.

‘Well done Melbourne, well done,’ organiser Celeste Liddle said.

Invasion Day and March for Australia protesters (below) wound down their demonstrations just before 3pm.

There was no reports of any serious violence at any stage of the day.

There were minor scuffles in Melbourne and Sydney while there was an alleged incident when March for Australia protesters hurled slurs at people wearing clothing marked with an Aboriginal flag, calling them ‘Commie scum’.

Much of the Invasion Day crowd has since moved off from Flinders Street station to Treasury Gardens for the Share the Spirit festival.

Invasion Day rally organiser Tarneen Onus Browne also congratulated event marshalls for safely shepherding the protest through the city as both groups marched.

Far-right influencer Hugo ‘AusPill’ Lennon said his supporters were ‘not sorry’ for Australia while also calling for protesters to ‘keep fighting for their national day’.

Lennon made the comments during a short speech he gave at the conclusion of the March for Australia rally in Melbourne on Monday.

Some supporters chanted ‘heil Hugo’ while it was reported one man referred to Lennon as the ‘Australian Charlie Kirk’’.

Lennon (below) stepped up to the podium with the Australian flag painted on his person after technical difficulties stalled the opening of March for Australia speeches for several minutes.

‘For too long in this country we have said sorry, we’ve said sorry for being Australian, we’ve said sorry on our national day… today that ended,” Lennon bellowed to the cheers of the crowd.

Lennon also said Australians would ‘not be bullied’ out of loving their country, before criticising Invasion Day protesters from last year’s rally.

Among the other speakers were local candidates for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party while Hanson’s face is emblazoned on a large Australian flag blowing in the wind behind a podium.

National Workers Alliance founder Matt Trihey remains at the speech while numbers are dwindling due to soaring temperatures.

Some Invasion Day protesters circled back towards Spring Street but police maintained a buffer between the two groups.

Others wearing clothing depicting the Aboriginal flag or those in support of the Invasion Day protest were berated as they made their way through the crowd.

Police intervened to allow Invasion Day protesters to pass by the March for Australia group.

A member of the disbanded neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network has been moved on by police in Sydney.

NSW Police last week issued public safety orders to former NSN members which prohibited them from entering Sydney’s CBD on Australia Day.

It’s been reported, riot squad police identified one former NSN member who had travelled from northern Queensland.

Officers issued a public safety order on the spot and the man was escorted to the central station and moved on without incident.

Rally organisers said members who were moved on were there to ‘keep patriots safe’ but instead were ‘moved on like children’.

Police were also involved in a scuffle with a man draped in an Australian flag (below).

This came after Sydney’s March for Australia rally arrived at Moore Park for speeches.

Organiser Jesse Stewart said it was the ‘probably the largest display of national pride in Australia Day for many years’.

Stewart also called for protesters to ‘stand strong’ against the ‘oppressive and tyrannical governance’ and against immigration.

Libertarian Party member John Ruddick spoke at the rally.

It was alleged he called out The Sydney Morning Herald and its recent coverage of the NSN as a ‘smear campaign’.

Ruddick (below) also allegedly criticised the government’s new hate laws which he compared to ‘East Germany’.

‘They try to shut us down because they don’t want to have a debate about immigration and what they are doing now are all these attacks on free speech,’ he said.

‘Everything is racist these days.’

Invasion Day marches across the country are winding down.

Protesters in Melbourne have stopped in the regular spot at the Flinders Street station intersection where organisers have pulled the crowd into a circle.

Thousands more protesters are still trickling along Swanston Street (below) as they head to the end point.

Police continue to maintain a presence as crowds begin to disperse on the outer.

In Sydney, Invasion Day protesters (below) have streamed into Victoria Park after a mostly peaceful march.

The crowd chanted ‘no pride in genocide’ and ‘always was, always will be Aboriginal land’ as protesters arrived at the Yabun festival.

The Yabun festival is Australia’s largest annual one-day festival celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, featuring First Nations performers, speakers, market stalls and more.

Musicians including Baker Boy, Budjerah and Emma Donovan are set to perform this afternoon.

The festivities are being held at Victoria Park in Camperdown until 7pm.

Brisbane and Canberra protests remain subdued while protests in Adelaide were cancelled due to extreme heat.

A couple walking along the street in Sydney were pushed inside a restaurant for their apparent protection after they booed March for Australia protesters.

It’s been reported the protesters responded with anti-immigration chants and surged toward the couple.

Police quickly created a barrier between the couple and the protesters and moved other people along.

In the meantime, chants have moved away from ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie’ to anti-immigration and ‘white fight back’ chants.

March for Australia protesters (below) continue to rally in big numbers through Sydney.