Content warning: Nazism, Fascism, Racism
A swastika was graffitied onto a mural of the Aboriginal Flag in Camperdown Park last Friday, the 18th of May.
The graffiti was first noticed at approximately 9 pm by a group of young people of colour at the park. While some of them obtained supplies to remove the graffiti, others noticed two police officers walk past the swastika and do “nothing about it.”As the young people of colour approached the mural, they noticed a group of more than ten people standing near the fascist graffiti. When asked if they knew anything about it, a member of the group, who identified themselves as Damonic, confessed to being the perpetrator.
Damonic asserted they were Indigenous and were simply “intended to make a thought-provoking statement.” He was described by one of the people of colour present at the incident as “drunk and distraught.”
Following his admission, an argument ensued between the two groups, as the people of colour accused Damonic of being a fascist and a Nazi. It appeared that following the argument, members of Damonic’s own group of friends began chastising him and calling him a “Nazi punk.”
The group successfully cleaned off the graffiti before eventually walking away from the mural. Approximately ten minutes later, four police officers were witnessed leaving the scene.
In a statement to Honi, an anonymous member of the group stated “we have to take this seriously and confront people in our communities – not just actions as blatantly jarring as this but also microaggressions”
This incident has occurred within months of other notable appearances of fascist graffiti in Sydney including racist slogans found in Epping and the University of Sydney Campus.
