Australian refugee help center ditched after anti-Islam protests

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Thursday 26 Nov 2015 - 10:16 Makkah mean time-14-2-1437 Anti-Muslim rallies take place in Australia. Image from worldbulletin Sydney, (IINA) - A local council in Sydney, Australia has ditched plans to develop a welcome center that would have benefited newly arrived refugees, after the proposal raised the ire of anti-Islam demonstrators, teleSUR reported. The welcome center in the suburb of Leichhardt was set to benefit some of the roughly 7,000 Syrian refugees who are expected to arrive in New South Wales, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. However, the newspapers have now reported the Leichhardt City Council has abandoned the initiative after a political dispute between legislators, and in the wake of anti-Islam protesters unexpectedly storming a council meeting. Photographs of the incident circulated on social media showed demonstrators entering the venue of the meeting with placards reading, “We don't want ISIS refugees.” The placards appeared to refer to the militant ISIS group in Iraq and Syria. The rise of the militant group has exacerbated a refugee crisis in both countries. The demonstrators claimed to be affiliated with the Australian Party for Freedom, a little known right wing group. On its website, the group stated, “We believe that, in order to safeguard the Australian way of life, we should not enable Muslim immigration.” The group also described multiculturalism as “treason,” and called for a “moratorium on immigration from Muslim countries.” It is noteworthy that, Australia has seen a surge in Islamophobia in recent years, though in recent months a an anti-racism counter movement has surged. Over the weekend anti-Islam, demonstrations were out-mobilized by progressive activists across Australia. The latest round of anti-Islam protests followed another bout of right-wing rallies earlier this year that ended in violence. The rallies were largely organized by anti-Islam group Reclaim Australia and its hardline splinter group, the United Patriots Front (UPF). SM/IINA