Prominent Australian nationalist Jacob Hersant has been found not guilty over a protest where activists held a banner saying “mass deportations now” in the middle of Melbourne’s CBD.
Mr Hersant, 27, represented himself in court after being charged with “behaving in an offensive manner in a public place” for leading the rally involving about 45 black-uniformed then-members of the now-disbanded National Socialist Network on July 27, 2024.
The group marched towards Federation Square in formation with the banner while Mr Hersant led chants of “Australia for the White man”, “mass deportations now”, “hail victory”, “blood and honour”, and “White man, fight back”.
Mr Hersant, who was the only unmasked member of the group and the only one charged, continued to shout “Australia for the White man” after being arrested and led into a police van, according to court documents.
The former NSN leader appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday where Magistrate Michelle Hodgson found the protest was not offensive, and the charge was unproven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Earlier this week police prosecutors submitted the protest was likely to “arouse significant anger, significant resentment, outrage, disgust, or hatred in the minds of a reasonable person” due to language they described as “inherently and obviously racist”, and the links to Nazi Germany of the slogans “hail victory” and “blood and honour”.
“The behaviour includes the use of words, clothing, signage and insignia to convey a message of hate and discriminatory behaviour towards minority groups. That behaviour is without doubt harmful and out of step with a tolerant multicultural society,” the prosecution submitted.
But Mr Hersant argued the protest was not offensive, and that the demonstration was political and therefore covered by his implied right to freedom of political communication under the Constitution.
At a hearing in January he cited a decision by a magistrate in Ballarat in October to find former White Australia leader Thomas Sewell not guilty of the same charge for a near-identical NSN rally in 2023.
In handing down her ruling Magistrate Hodgson stated the objective reasonable person would not understand the slogans had historical links to Nazism and demonstration was not proven to be criminally offensive.
Mr Hersant told Noticer News the verdict was proof of overreach and political persecution by Victorian police and prosecutors, who should be focusing on the state’s violent crime crisis instead of arresting activists for legal demonstrations.
“The conduct that the prosecution alleged was criminally offensive in this case was the exact same conduct for which Thomas Sewell, in a different case, was charged and found not guilty. The prosecutors knew that this conduct had been judged lawful by a Victorian magistrate previously, yet they still brought this case against me,” he said.
“They evidently view the criminal justice system as their tool to make someone’s life difficult – irrespective of whether a finding of guilt is probable, and irrespective of how much of the court’s time and how much taxpayer money they waste in the process.
“Twice now, Victorian magistrates have confirmed that the slogans ‘Australia for the White man’, ‘hail victory’, and ‘blood and honour’ are not criminally offensive. I doubt this will stop the police from charging people for saying these political slogans in public though. They are determined to keep throwing mud at the wall in the hope that some of it will stick.
“The Director of Public Prosecutions should not be using the criminal justice system to punish political advocacy. Victoria is bankrupt and facing a severe crime wave. When the criminal justice system is being used to persecute people for their political views instead of performing its proper function, it’s not difficult to understand why.”
Mr Hersant is still fighting separate offensive behaviour charges relating to the alleged booing of a “welcome to country” at an Anzac Day dawn service last year, and for an alleged Halloween costume.
Earlier this year he was jailed for 30 days after losing an appeal against his conviction for performing a Nazi salute, but has said he intends to appeal the conviction on constitutional grounds in a higher court.
Mr Hersant’s former organisation White Australia is also challenging the constitutionality of the Labor government’s prohibited hate group laws in the High Court following its listing earlier this month, with an interlocutory hearing set for next week.
Header image: Left, the protest. Right, Mr Hersant outside court on Friday (supplied).
The post Australian nationalist beats ‘mass deportations now’ protest charge first appeared on The Noticer.
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