{"id":185565,"date":"2025-08-29T21:16:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T21:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/185565\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T21:16:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T21:16:21","slug":"nationwide-march-for-australia-sparks-mixed-reactions-among-migrants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/185565\/","title":{"rendered":"Nationwide March for Australia sparks mixed reactions among migrants"},"content":{"rendered":"

A nationwide “March for Australia” has divided opinion among migrants, with some saying they feel targeted, while others have defended the right to free speech.<\/p>\n

The “marches against mass migration” are scheduled for Sunday, with plans for events in major cities across the country.<\/p>\n

The organisers of the marches have been linked to white nationalism<\/a>, leading some community members to feel “overwhelmed” and “worried” about being targeted.<\/p>\n

One of them is Chole Jiang, who has been living in Melbourne for 10 years and working as a nurse.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

The “March for Australia” will take place in Melbourne’s CBD on Sunday, as well as in other cities across the country. (ABC News: Erwin Renaldi)<\/p>\n

“I feel a bit overwhelmed, I can’t imagine there are so many people against immigrants,” she told the ABC.<\/p>\n

She said she had often felt worried about going into Melbourne’s CBD recently, fearing she might be harassed because of her Chinese background.<\/p>\n

Ms Jiang said she saw a “warning” on social media that people involved in the rally on Sunday may express anger towards migrants.<\/p>\n

“We are here to work, and we live just like any normal person would \u2026 [so] no need to be this racist against migrant workers,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"images<\/p>\n

Flyers for the march have since appeared on the March for Australia social media accounts.<\/p>\n

‘This nation is built on immigration’<\/p>\n

The ABC also spoke to some in the international student community, which has been blamed by some politicians for rising rents despite studies showing no such link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The federal government announced a cap on the international students intake last year<\/a>, but early this month said the cap would rise 9 per cent to 295,000 next year, with a focus on South-East Asian students.<\/p>\n

Mihir Kuvadiya, who has been living as a student in Melbourne for more than two years, told the ABC he had never experienced racism.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mihir Kuvadiya is not that worried about the planned rallies. (ABC News: Erwin Renaldi)<\/p>\n

“I found out people over here are really nice,” the Indian student said.<\/p>\n

Mr Kuvadiya said that sometimes, when people are “having a really bad day” and treat others poorly, it can be mistaken for racism.<\/p>\n

He said such behaviour was “common” everywhere.<\/p>\n

Mr Kuvadiya said one of his friends had made him aware of this weekend’s marches.<\/p>\n

“I’m not that worried with the rally, because this nation is built on immigration,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

he said.<\/p>\n

“If you are legal here, if you are paying taxes, I don’t think anyone can take you out of this place because you’re contributing something to the economy.”<\/p>\n

Other international students, who did not want to be identified for this story, said they were not surprised about the planned rallies because people had “become bolder and more aggressive” in their actions “when we do nothing to stop it”.<\/p>\n

Community groups sending advice<\/p>\n

The ABC has seen social media posts by culturally diverse community groups warning their members to “stay inside” on Sunday to avoid encounters with right-wing protesters.<\/p>\n

“We advise you not to travel to the city \u2026 unless it is essential to avoid unwanted incidents,” read one message circulating on WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

Solene Michel arrived in Australia a week ago on a Work and Holiday visa, which offers opportunities for young people to have a working experience in the country.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Solene Michael says she plans to stay at home on Sunday because she is unsure if she woudl feel safe in the city. (ABC News: Erwin Renaldi)<\/p>\n

She said she read about the rally on social media and planned to stay at home on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Ms Michel said she understood that “racism is everywhere”j, but she wanted to be cautious with the Sunday march.<\/p>\n

“My friend told me about how racism is very much present in Melbourne and in Australia in general, and so she just told me to stay home,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I knew I wouldn’t feel safe \u2026 but also being European, I’m kind of used to people not really being happy about immigration,” the Belgian said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Francis, who did not want to share her last name, said everyone was entitled to attend the rallies and express their views.<\/p>\n

Who is behind the March for Australia protests?<\/a><\/p>\n

An ABC NEWS Verify investigation has found organisers linked to the March for Australia protests sharing white supremacy posts on social media and, in one case, pro-Nazi and pro-Hitler memes.<\/p>\n

Francis, who came to Australia from Hong Kong when she was eight years old, said she had never experienced racism.<\/p>\n

“I don’t have a lot of Asian friends, I grew up here \u2026 and my friend circle through my lifetime has been white people.”<\/p>\n

She said she did not see migration generally as a problem, but was concerned about “overpopulated migrants” who only hung out with those from a similar racial background.<\/p>\n

“I think the ones that actually make people uncomfortable and upset people are the ones that don’t want to integrate,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They all have their little burrows of friends, and they don’t really leave that.<\/p>\n

“I have no problems with immigration as long as they integrate \u2026 instead of just holding [onto] what they had.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nationwide “March for Australia” has divided opinion among migrants, with some saying they feel targeted, while others…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":185566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,718,102127,104176,17834,50,7237,19500,17130,465,25548],"class_list":{"0":"post-185565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-community","10":"tag-march-for-australia","11":"tag-migrant","12":"tag-migrants","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-protests","15":"tag-racism","16":"tag-rallies","17":"tag-reaction","18":"tag-response"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115114134701523931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}