Genocide: Massacres, torture, expulsion: Other incidents: The United Patriots Front (UPF) was an Australian far-right extremist group[1] that opposed immigration, multiculturalism and the religion of Islam.
[7][8] In 2015, its leaders discussed Jewish conspiracy theories, with Neil Erikson stating that "My personal opinion is stick to the Muslim shit and Cultural Marxism for max support, do Jews later.
[13] In June, the group protested Zaky Mallah's appearance on Q&A, a television programme, by roasting a pig outside the Melbourne office of the ABC in an apparent attempt to deliberately upset Muslims.
In August, Fairfax Media reported that Erikson was under investigation for alleged conversations with an unknown person threatening councillor Stephen Jolly.
[24][25][26][27] In February, leader Blair Cottrell was mocked after being photographed purchasing a meal from a halal-certified fast-food restaurant, despite his vocal opposition to halal certification and support for boycotts of certified businesses and products.
[28] On April 1, United Patriots Front was criticised for unfurling banner with the words "Stop the Mosques" at an Australian Football League match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
[29][30][31][32][33] In September 2017, members Blair Cottrell, Neil Erikson and Chris Shortis were found guilty by a magistrate of inciting contempt against Muslims after they had enacted and made a video of a fake beheading, in order to protest against the building of a mosque in Bendigo.
[34][35] On 5 September, UPE members disrupted a meeting of the City of Yarra council in protest of their decision to stop referring to January 26 as Australia Day.
[36][37][38] In January, the UPF attempted to arrange vigilante patrols after federal politician Peter Dutton falsely claimed that people in Melbourne were "scared to go out to restaurants" because of "African gang violence".
Sky News reporter Laura Jayes took offence at his appearance on the program due to the fact that he has expressed admiration for Hitler and claimed to have manipulated women "using violence and terror".
The teenager reportedly egged Anning in response to comments made by the senator about the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, claiming that Muslim immigration had led to the attacks.
[51][52] On the 23rd of March, in the wake of the Christchurch mosque attack, it emerged that the alleged perpetrator, Brenton Tarrant, had three years earlier given fulsome praise to Cottrell as a leader of the far-right movements.
He made more than 30 comments on the UPF and True Blue Crew Facebook pages, singling out Cottrell for praise and disparaging Erikson and Burgess as "useful idiots".
[53] Scott Moerland, a senior figure in the United Patriots Front, contested the 2019 Federal Election running as a candidate for former Queensland senator Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party.
[60][56] Besides other run-ins with the law, in September 2017, UPF leaders Cottrell, Neil Erikson, and Christopher Shortis, were found guilty by a magistrate of inciting contempt against Muslims, and each was fined $2,000.
[61] Cottrell stirred controversy over his criminal convictions (which include arson, stalking, making threats to kill (Offences against the Person Act 1861), violating the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 by inciting contempt against Muslims and breaching intervention orders), and for several of his public statements, including a desire to see a portrait of Adolf Hitler hung in Australian classrooms and for copies of Mein Kampf to be "issued annually" to students.