Julie Bishop has joined the long list of people condemning an anti-Muslim banner at Friday’s MCG match between the Magpies and Richmond calling the display “deeply unfortunate.”
The large flag, which the work of radical anti-diversity group United Patriots Front (UPF), read ‘Stop the mosques’ and was put up by the scoreboard at the City End of the ground during halftime.
The UPF uploaded a video of the banner to their Facebook page captioning it: “Rise without fear #ProtectAustralia”
But the stunt has been roundly rejected by football fans as offensive and attention seeking and Australia’s Foreign Minister was quick to add her voice in rejecting of the group’s ideals.
“There is a time and a place and that was not the time and not the place,” Ms Bishop told reporters in Washington on Saturday. “I don’t believe that those sentiments add anything to the debate about what is a serious challenge and that is trying to ensure that Australians live side by side, exercising a high degree of tolerance and appreciation of each other’s cultures, backgrounds and differences.”
The AFL also condemned the incident and said “such actions have no place in society, and not in our game”.
“Match-day security removed the banner when they became aware of it and evicted the patrons responsible,” its statement said.
The incident has been referred to Victoria Police.
The banner also said “Go Pies” – support which the Collingwood club promptly denounced.
Magpie’s president Eddie McGuire vowed to hand out bans to the perpetrators if they were found to have any official association to the club.
“The club awaits the outcome of further investigations into the matter by the AFL, the Victoria Police and MCG security,” a club statement read.
“Regardless, these people do not speak for Collingwood and are condemned by Collingwood. If it established that they have a formal connection to the club, this connection will be severed.
“There is no place at Collingwood, or in our game, for such behaviour.”
On its Facebook page, which has more than 30,000 likes, page the UPF was unapologetic stating, “anybody who supports Mosques supports terrorism and is ultimately responsible for it.”
