Neo-Nazi demanded to see journalists, allegedly bashed Channel Nine guard
A leader of a neo-Nazi group allegedly attacked a security guard at the Channel Nine building in Melbourne hours before the network broadcast a story on A Current Affair about his organisation’s activities.
Channel Nine reported that Thomas Sewell, a former Australian Defence Force member who is one of the leaders of the far-right National Socialist Network and who featured in A Current Affair on Monday night, arrived at the Channel Nine building in Melbourne some time before the program was to be shown.
Thomas Sewell.Credit:YouTube
He and another man arrived at the building – which also houses The Age offices – and demanded to see A Current Affair staff.
The pair were then escorted out by a security guard who was then allegedly attacked and punched multiple times by Mr Sewell.
Stills from a video of an alleged attack on a security guard at the Channel Nine building in Melbourne.
The pair then ran away from the building.
Victoria Police have been handed CCTV vision of the attack. The Channel Nine security guard was taken to hospital by ambulance.
The program reported that Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton had confirmed a recommendation from ASIO to formally proscribe a different group, the UK-based Sonnenkrieg Division a “terrorist organisation”.
The group has been outlawed in the UK, after some of its members were jailed on terror offences. Security agencies fear its promotion of terrorism could inspire home-grown extremists.
“They have a presence that we’re particularly worried about in the UK but their reach goes into the minds of young people and Australians here,” Mr Dutton told the program.
A spokesperson for Channel Nine said in a statement that police had the broadcaster’s “full cooperation in seeking justice. We are providing support to the member of our staff who was attacked. Nine is committed to providing a safe working environment for all our people.”
The Age reported in January that, over the Australia Day weekend, 38 members of Mr Sewell’s organisation burnt a cross – a ritual usually associated with the Ku Klux Klan – next to Lake Bellfield at the foot of the Grampians in western Victoria.
Stills from a video of an alleged attack on a security guard at the Channel Nine building in Melbourne.
Tourists and locals heard the group chanting “white power” and Nazi slogans.
Halls Gap resident James told The Age that when he passed the group on his mountain bike he was addressed with a Sieg Heil.
“There were 40 white males, many with skinheads, some chanting ‘white power’. That is intimidating for anyone, let alone the young Asian families sharing the barbecue space,” James said.
Alleged members of a far-right extremist group seen at Halls Gap and the Grampians.
“They looked like Nazis from a Hitler movie,” a Halls Gap cafe owner said of her experience confronting the group of men on the Australia Day weekend. “And they were.”
Mr Sewell has in the past sought to distance his group from those who espouse violent action.
His social media posts indicate that he is a racist conspiracy theorist appealing to marginalised, underemployed young Australians on the fringes of society. He is also ex-Australian Army.
Channel Nine and The Age are both owned by Nine Entertainment Co.
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