A far-right anti-immigrant protester barged into the hotel where Prime Minister Narendra Modi was staying in Australia’s Melbourne, raising abuse-laced slogans.
This incident happened just hours after PM Modi arrived in Australia for a two-day visit on Wednesday, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The report added that the same individual later attempted to disrupt Modi's address to the Indian diaspora at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on Thursday. However, he was drowned out by the music and forced to leave.
The protestors, identified as Hugo Lennon, and operating under the social media persona “Auspill”, shared a video online in which he was seen yelling at PM Modi as he arrived on a red carpet in the hotel lobby.
"This is Australia. No more Indians. We don't want any more migration. This country is for Australians," Lennon was heard shouting from the floor above the lobby.
Police quickly dragged the protester away from the first-floor balcony overlooking the lobby as he continued hurling slogans.
What the police said
A spokesperson for the Victoria Police said that a 22-year-old man "attended a hotel and shouted political statements" around 12:30am on Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}A spokesperson for the Victoria Police said that a 22-year-old man "attended a hotel and shouted political statements" around 12:30am on Wednesday.
{{/usCountry}}"He was moved on by police without incident," the spokesperson told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Police have not yet commented on how the heckler knew the PM Narendra Modi's location or how close he got to the Indian leader. But local media reported that, "some far-right influencers had shared knowledge online of Modi's movements around the city during his visit.”
Who is Hugo Lenon?
According to The Sydney Herald report, Hugo Lennon is a "neo-Nazi associate" and a wealthy property development heir who has become a far-right influencer.
The Daily Mail reported that Lennon was among the central figures behind the anti-immigrant "March for Australia", a series of nationwide rallies last year that drew in thousands of like-minded anti-immigrant protestors. Australian media outlets would later report that many of their organisers, like Lennon, were allegedly linked to various neo-Nazi and white nationalist associations.
PM Narendra Modi concluded his two-day visit after addressing the Indian community and holding bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, as brief protests failed to disrupt the official programme or the large diaspora event. From there, he departed for New Zealand for the third leg of his three-nation state tour, having earlier visited Indonesia.