Police have taken the organisers of a Cronulla riots anniversary event to the Supreme Court in a bid to stop the anti-Islam rally from going ahead.
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Nick Folkes and his anti-immigration group, Party for Freedom, briefly appeared in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday afternoon in a civil case instigated by the NSW Commissioner of Police who are seeking an injunction.
Before entering the court Mr Folkes had a loud verbal altercation with a member of the public who said the Cronulla riots were driven by racism and that he was racist for seeking to glory them.
Mr Folkes shouted back at the man, declaring "it was a rebellion!".
The court proceeding itself was much less dramatic, with Justice Christine Adamson simply seeking an agreement from Mr Folkes' lawyer, Robert Balzola and counsel for the police, Ian Temby QC, about when the matter would return to court.
The parties agreed to reconvene on December 10 for a hearing on the police's application for an urgent injunction preventing the anniversary event from taking place.
Mr Folkes has spent months planning the 10-year "memorial" event, to be held next Saturday at a public reserve in Cronulla, and he was vowing to proceed despite his formal application being rejected twice by police last month.
Flyers have been circulated around Sydney, promoting four speakers - all from outside the Shire - including Kim Vuga, a participant of the SBS show Go Back To Where You Came From and Sergio Redegalli, a business owner who painted a "ban the burqa" mural in Newtown.
Fairfax Media understands that Sutherland Shire Council gave Mr Folkes until 2.30pm on Friday to remove its flyers and is now planning to launch proceedings in the Human Rights Commission where it will argue that the promotional material amounts to racial villification.
Party for Freedom is also selling "limited edition" t-shirts for $49.999 with the slogan "Sydney is fun: Cronulla is a riot".
The NSW Police knocked back two applications to hold a rally due to concerns from local residents that the event could spark racial tensions.
A suggested "funeral procession to ceremoniously bury multiculturalism" was part of one rejected application.
Sutherland Shire Mayor Carmelo Pesce said the rally was not welcome in the Shire and the organisers "don't represent the Shire and don't represent Cronulla".
In a press release sent to his supporters on Friday, Mr Folkes said two police officers served him with the summons at 9pm on Thursday night.
He said Sutherland Shire Council also served him with a letter listing several demands, including that the protest did not go ahead in the council-owned Don Lucas Reserve and that any online and social media material regarding the memorial be removed within 48 hours.
"In summary, the council has basically said the years of intimidation and harassment perpetrated by Muslim gangs did not happen," Mr Folkes said in the press release. "The council's sorry attempt at trying to portray Islam as a race or ethnicity is flawed."
Meanwhile, Cr Pesce said that, if the council's demands aren't met by 2.30pm on Friday, it will also launch Supreme Court action, alleging a breach of the Racial Discrimination Act.
"I want every measure to take place to show that the council is doing the right thing by the community," he said. "These are individuals that have views that are global views and they're using the Shire as an excuse to come here to promote their views."
Several Cronulla residents have voiced their strong opposition to the rally on local news Facebook pages.
"For f--k's sake! 10 years later the rest of Australia still thinks that the shire is full of redneck racist bogans! I'm sick of telling people I live in Cronulla and people assuming I'm a brain dead racist as well!" a Facebook user, Andrew Black, posted in a comment that received hundreds of likes.
Mr Folkes and the Party for Freedom will appear in the Supreme Court at 2.30pm on Friday.
with Paul Bibby
