Reunite Afghanistani Families - UPDATE

Rally - 12pm midday, Tuesday 8 February, Parliament House

Various people have asked whether we are proceeding with this rally in the light of the anti-vax protest.

At the moment we’re proceeding with the rally. It’s not entirely our call. Some of the Hazara community have already begun the trip to Canberra – some from South Australia. They are expecting more than a thousand to come. It’s a difficult situation since we are providing the set-up – PA, stage etc.

However, we’re monitoring the situation as closely as we can. We have been in touch with the police and will be again on Monday. There are three protests which have been given permission to happen on Tuesday in the assembly area in front of Parliament House. The anti-vax one has not – but, of course, that hasn’t stopped them. So far, the police have not advised us to cancel and the permission to rally continues.

We’ve even been in indirect contact with the one of the leaders of the anti-vaxers who has said they don’t intend any confrontation with us.

We’ll also look carefully about where to set up exactly to keep away from them as much as we can. There is also the question of timing – hopefully our rally will be well progressed or possibly even finished by the time they arrive. However, we do completely understand if people don’t want to be in that position and decide not to come.

We’ll send out an email on Monday with information on what is happening and also put it on Facebook.