Far-right extremist arrested as boos shatter hush of Melbourne’s Anzac Day dawn service

A well-known Australian far-right extremist has led a small group of men in a coordinated attempt to disrupt Melbourne’s flagship Anzac Day dawn service.

Boos and heckling shattered the hush as Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown welcomed attendees to his father’s land.

The small group of men then jeered again each time a speaker thanked the traditional owners of the land.

Other members of the crowd cheered and clapped as the speakers tried to speak over the noise.

Defence Minister Matt Keogh said that booing of a Welcome to Country during a dawn service in Melbourne this morning was “frankly disgraceful”.

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“We know now that booing was led by someone who’s a known neo-Nazi,” Keogh said on ABC Radio National this morning,

“And frankly, when we come together to commemorate on Anzac Day, we’re commemorating some of those soldiers who fell in a war that was fought against that sort of hateful ideology, and so it was completely disrespectful, and is not something that’s welcome at Anzac Day commemorations ever.”

Police say they expect to charge a man with “offensive behaviour” after the disruption at the Melbourne dawn service this morning.