A group of around 30 Christian men staged a protest in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Newtown, walking down King Street chanting the Hail Mary prayer.

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The action was reportedly a protest over cabaret performer Reuben Kaye making a joke about Jesus on Channel Ten’s The Project. Posts to social media posts from people in the area suggested that members of the group were intimidating people as they made their way down the street.  

Police escorted the unauthorised march and have confirmed that no arrests were made.

Police responding to group of men chanting the Lord’s Prayer in Newtown and protesting(?)

Pretty creepy pic.twitter.com/veKB5Rxjby

— Tim Collis (@tymme95) March 3, 2023

Newtown is a popular suburb with Sydney’s LGBTIQA+ population, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently opened a Pride Square in the centre King Street which is filled with resteraunts, entertainment venues and an arthouse cinema.

Facebook group Christian Lives Matter has denied they were behind the protest.

Charlie Bakhos, the founder of the page, denies he was among the group, and says he nothing to do with organising the action. He has threated to take defamation action against media outlets, social media posters and politicians who suggest he or Christian Lives Matter was involved in the event.

Bakhos has also denied any involvement in a series of paint attacks on street art that showed LGBTIQA+ related imagery, and an attack on Sydney’s Uniting Church. Bakhos posted to his page saying that he was present at any of the events and had only posted video sent to him by others.

The group has announced it is planning on bringing a class action lawsuit in the future – although they have not said who they are planning on suing. As well as protest outside Channel Ten next weekend, and a protest in Sydney’s Hyde Park the following week.

Local MP Jenny Leon said the scenes recorded on King Street and Enmore Road were disgraceful.

“Disgraceful scenes on King Street and Enmore Rd last night. Our Newtown community wears with pride our diversity – and we celebrate difference. Fascism is not welcome on our streets. There is no place for aggressive, threatening and violent acts of discrimination and hatred.” Leong posted to Twitter.

Darcy Byrne, the Mayor if the Inner West Council, said he had been briefed on the event on Friday night.

“We opened Pride Square to send a message that all people are welcome in our Inner West community. A handful of small minded bigots can’t change that.” Byrne said.

“Thank you to the Newtown Police Command and the local business owners and residents who made sure that everyone was safe during this unfortunate incident. Pride Square is here to stay.”

OIP Staff

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