Thousands of Australians took part in anti-immigration rallies on Sunday, which the centre-left government condemned as hate-driven events with links to neo-Nazi groups.

The “March for Australia” demonstrations were staged in Sydney, as well as in other state capitals and regional centres, according to the organisers’ website.

“Mass migration has torn at the bonds that held our communities together,” the website says. The group posted on X on Saturday that the rallies aimed to do “what the mainstream politicians never have the courage to do: demand an end to mass immigration”.

Australia, where half the population is either born overseas or has a parent born overseas, has been confronting a surge in right-wing extremism, including demonstrations involving neo-Nazi groups.

“We absolutely condemn the March for Australia rally that’s going on today. It is not about increasing social harmony,” Murray Watt, a senior minister in the Labor government, told Sky News television, when asked about the rally in Sydney, the country’s most-populous city.

Labour minister Murray Watt told Sky News when asked about the demonstration in Sydney, the nation’s most populous city.

“We don’t support rallies like this that are about spreading hate and that are about dividing our community,” Watt said, asserting they were “organised and promoted” by neo-Nazi groups.

Organisers of the March for Australia did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the neo-Nazi allegations.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, between 5,000 and 8,000 people, many wrapped in Australian flags, gathered for the Sydney rally. The demonstration took place near the route of the Sydney Marathon, which drew 35,000 runners and concluded at the city’s Opera House.