On Christmas Eve, a group of pro-Palestine/pro-Hamas demonstrators caused an unexpected disturbance at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl during the live broadcast of Melbourne’s iconic 86th Carols by Candlelight.
The event, which raises funds for Vision Australia to support children with low or no vision, was interrupted when activists carrying Palestinian flags took to the stage and began voicing their message to the thousands of attendees.
An activist shouted “While you’re caroling, kids are dying in Gaza” before her microphone was cut off.
Hosts David Campbell and Sarah Abo immediately intervened to ensure all children on stage were guided safely away from the disruption.
“Everybody relax, settle down. Everyone’s allowed to have their – they’re allowed to have their moment, to have their time in the sun,” Campbell said.
“But we did have kids here. So we want to make sure those kids are safe. They’re going to come back out in a second. It is a very hard time in this world. It’s a hard time, for us all to come together on a night like this too,” he added.
The audience responded with a combination of boos and unease to the activists’ disruption.
The security team quickly took action to remove the protesters from the stage, allowing the event to continue according to plan.
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People on social media reacted to the disturbance.
One comment read: “Socialists should be removed from the government and expelled from the country. Immigrants are starting to rule a country that is not their own? Immigrants will tell us what our country,our homeland should be like? They are the ones who are supposed to adapt to us and not us to them.”
Another wrote, “This is the holiday you don’t mess with. I’m not religious, but messing with Christmas is a line that should not be crossed!… [My view of Christmas] consists of the ideas of appreciating and loving my family and friends. That’s it. The victors write the history, so we’ll just have to wait and see who’s becoming the content of the history books of tomorrow. Merry Christmas!”
Another said, “And people thought they just hated Jews.”
Another wrote, “All government sponsored. If they wanted it to stop, it would stop overnight.”
“Yeah, let’s scare the kids performing on stage. What a bunch of morons,” another wrote.
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