When an unnamed man posted a picture on his Facebook page of himself in a balaclava next to that of a woman wearing a burqa, he elicited over 200,000 likes and more than 60,000 shares. He also attracted sneers, criticism and ridicule.
In what the man (in the image above) terms a social experiment’ he claims to have entered a local shopping centre dressed as a ninja.
On his Facebook page for Australia First – Newcastle, which purports to be a political organisation and displays the slogan “Stop Islamisation”, the man writes: “It’s well within the laws and my rights to wear it [a balaclava] and I asked him [a security guard who requested he remove the offending item of clothing]: if a Muslim woman was to enter would you asked her to remove it?”
He goes on to claim that as soon as he entered Woolworths the buzzers went off and he was confronted by security guards asking him to remove his ninja get-up.
He then says: “Within less than five minutes four police vehicles showed up with 10 officers and other cars nearby watching . The police approached me and asked what I was doing but were very good about the way they handled it.”
Comparing his all-covering outfit with Muslim female face coverings, he says: “There is no difference at all and the law states this.”
He writes that one of the policemen who approached him about his outfit warned him he had to be careful about what he said but claims the officer “totally agrees with what I was doing”.
“I only had one cop carrying on saying I’m intimidating people but that just made me shut him down by using his own laws against him,” the man claims.
Some of the comments on the Facebook post cheered him on in his initiative, while others condemned it.
“Wow, bogan’s unite! As it has been previously stated, the burqa has religious significance, the balaclava just says ‘d&%k head,'” says one.
“Shame on you for blaming the religion. A religion is not performing these crimes, people are. Nobody blames Christians for the KKK, so don’t blame Muslims for Isis. Don’t generalise millions of people for a niche group of people,” pleads another.
“This isn’t justice. THIS is terrorism. You’re attempting to use fear of Islam as a means of influencing people to effect change. That’s the definition of terrorism: to use fear to control or influence people,” blasted another.
What’s your opinion?