The Age newspaper estimated 6,000 participants, but based on my own experiences at marches, and comparing this crowd to past pro-Palestine rallies that have attracted anywhere between 3-30,000 people, I think the crowd was at least 10,000 strong. It was overwhelmingly white and skewed older and male.
The next observation I made was how incoherent the rally was. There was no clear structure, co-ordination, agenda, strategy or directions. The participants were also motivated by various grievances. The anti-immigration strain was quite clearly the most prominent, but there were sizable blocs agitated by Victorian state government policies, tax, and over-policing.
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Some have pointed to these contradictions and suggested that the rally was a bust because the messaging was confused and uncoordinated. I think it’s important to understand that this is the case at most large rallies, including those organised by the left. The fact the first such rally of this scale, organised by the far-right, did not have message discipline is not really a surprise.
What’s more important, and became quite clear to me, is that whatever organisation and discipline there was, was being provided by the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network, led by Thomas Sewell.
The heavy police presence in the CBD was overwhelmingly focused on blocking and disrupting the counter-protest. This effectively let the March for Australia take over the CBD and pour into whatever streets, lanes and public places they saw fit. It resulted in Sewell addressing the rally from the steps of Victorian Parliament, delivering white supremacist slogans to a crowd of thousands that cheered back in support and encouragement.
The same pattern played out across the country. Despite attempts to portray the march as somehow de-linked from organised far-right activists, it was quite obvious who was running the show.