Thousands of students ditched class to march against One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and her policies in Melbourne as part of a nationwide protest.
Starting at Victoria’s State Library at 2pm on Thursday the students, some still in their school uniforms, marched down Swanston Street and brought trams and traffic to a halt.
They chanted “Pauline is appalling” and “racist, sexist, anti-queer, we don’t want Hanson here”.
The students were also spotted with signs including “Still got a better attendance rate than Hanson”, referencing her lack of appearances at Senate estimates hearings.
The protest was mirrored across the country and was organised by the High School Anti-Capitalists and National Union of Students.
The march continued down Bourke Street Mall and up Swanston Street, with police managing the flow of traffic.
The march came despite calls for students not to sideline their studies from politicians including federal Education Minister Jason Clare and Victorian Premier Ben Carroll.
“If people want to protest on the weekend, then fill your boots, but I want you at school when school is on, learning,” Clare told reporters on Wednesday.
Despite being urged not to skip class, high school student Jules Arpula said there was “nothing more important” for students to do on Thursday.
“We refuse to just adapt to the new ‘normal’ of Hansonism,” she said.
The One Nation leader used her June National Press Club address to call for a monocultural Australia before appearing on a podcast hosted by British far-right activist and convicted criminal Tommy Robinson during a work trip to the UK last month.
Victorian One Nation MP Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell said the suggestion her party was racist was “false” and accused the Socialist Party of misleading students.
“These people are telling these children false information, we are not racist,” she told reporters at state parliament on Thursday morning.
“If you have a look at our followers, our members, our candidates, there is a diverse range of people.”
A walkout was one of the most effective ways for students, some of whom are too young to vote, to voice their dissent, Monash University senior politics lecturer Benjamin Moffitt said.
The planned rallies aimed to implore a relatively large group of Australians “flirting with the idea of voting One Nation” to question their choices, he said.
– with AAP
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