The iconic Trades Hall union building in Melbourne was defaced early Thursday morning with vicious anti-police graffiti in the latest incident of pro-Palestine vandalism to strike the city.
Messages in orange paint reading “cops defend genocide” and “ACAB”, which stands for “all cops are bastards”, were written on the pillars of the legendary 19th-century hall, the home of Victoria’s trade union movement.
“Free Palestine” and “cops out of trades hall” were also painted onto the building.
Victoria Police is investigating the defacement.
“Police are investigating after a building near the intersection of Victoria and Lygon streets was graffitied around 3.30am this morning,” the police said.
“The investigation into the incident is ongoing.”
The defacement of the union hall comes one day after a shocking pro-Palestine vandalism attack on the office of Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns in St Kilda in which the words “Zionism is fascism” were painted over Mr Burns’ image.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Mr Burns said the attackers, who also smashed in windows and lit fires, were “politically motivated”.
“At 3.20 this morning, six people turned up to my office,” he said.
“They came with kerosene, they smashed in windows with a hammer, they spray-painted on the outside of my office, they spray-painted in the inside of my office.
“They lit two fires, one on the left-hand side of my office and one outside the door to the residential apartments upstairs.
“It was a very reckless and dangerous vandalism of my office.
“This was really ugly behaviour.”
Anthony Albanese condemned the incident and said those responsible should face “the full force of the law”.
“This is a serious attack. The targeting of a Jewish MP is very distressing,” the Prime Minister said.
“There is no place for political violence in Australia.”
The Victorian Trades Hall Council has been contacted for comment.
Tensions over Israel and Palestine have erupted into Australian streets since the Hamas terror attack on the Jewish state on October 7 last year.
Pro-Palestine protests have mushroomed across major cities, with protesters incensed by Israel’s campaign in the Gaza and the sharp rise in Palestinian deaths.
There has also been a dramatic spike in anti-Semitic prejudice, with Jewish Australians suffering a 738 per cent spike in abuse across October and November 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, according to an interim report from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
In one example, the words “bring back Hitler, finish the job” were discovered in a bathroom in Sydney.
Speaking to a senate inquiry on Monday, ECAJ co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said he expected the final report to show a “greatly elevated” increase in anti-Semitic incidents compared with prior years.