The leader of a militant Christian group that violently clashed with LGBTQI+ activists claims they are peaceful, even as members call for violence against protesters.
Christians Lives Matter promoted a speech by Mark Latham at St. Michaels Church in Belfield, Sydney’s southwest, on Tuesday night.
But chaos erupted outside before the One Nation MP even took the stage, as about 15 Community Action for Rainbow Rights protesters gathered outside.
The activists were surrounded by more than 600 of the CLM supporters, who, according to police, threw rocks and bottles at them and officers tried to separate them.
Christian Lives Matter leader Charlie Bakhos (pictured) insisted his group did not condone violence and did not go to the event to fight, blaming LGBT activists instead
CLM leader Charlie Bakhos insisted his group did not condone violence and did not go to the event to fight, blaming CARR instead.
“The unauthorized anti-Christian, anti-child protesters who have been threatening to come to churches all week have terrified so many people with their attacks. They did not come peacefully,” he said.
“They came last week and they came last night – threatening Christians, threatening children.
“They came to the churches with these signs mocking faith, mocking God, mocking priests, mocking Catholic people… they came to the suburbs to attack the community.”
Mr. Bakhos showed one of the signs that read “Catholic Priest Trimmers.”
Social media promotion for the rally where only 15 activists showed up and was violently confronted by CLM supporters
Mr Bakhos showed one of the signs carried by the protesters reading ‘Catholic priest groomers’
However, another prominent member of the group, Christian Sukkar, posted a video before the event, allegedly encouraging violence.
“There’s only one way, and that’s by grabbing them, and you drag them by their damn hair, and you fucking get them out of there,” he said.
Sukkar said that anyone who just wants to pray the rosary should go to the organized vigil and do so, but the “real guys” should attack the activists.
“Go there tomorrow and shake the fuckin’ ’em up and drag ’em by the damned head and get ’em off St Michael’s Field,” he said.
‘Time to get up. Time to let people know where we stand.’
Mr Sukkar has since deleted his social media accounts and was charged with encouraging the commission of crimes.
Christian Sukkar fired back at hundreds of LGBTQI activists as they yelled ‘George Pell, go to hell’ and called the late cardinal a pedophile across the street from St Mary’s Cathedral at George Pell’s funeral
The heavily tattooed father-of-two regularly attends similar gatherings and reportedly yelled at protesters outside Cardinal George Pell’s funeral on Feb. 2.
He allegedly clashed with a protester who confronted him about cutting ribbons in tribute to survivors of clergy sexual abuse at the gate of St. Mary’s Cathedral the night before.
He asked if she had “looked in the mirror” and “are you a pot?” – a homophobic insult typically used against lesbians.
“I don’t respond to dykes, so please move up, you’re a dyke, that’s not hate speech. Go film your own people, you’re not welcome here, take your goddamn plate off, get your people moving, they can go fuck themselves,” he yelled.
On Tuesday, shocking footage showed a woman being punched in the head while a man filming the chaos was pushed to the ground and surrounded by CLM.
An officer was taken to hospital after his hand was injured by a projectile, and a 38-year-old man was attacked.
A 41-year-old man has been charged with assault.
Mr Sukkar has been outspoken about his faith on social media and expressed strong feelings for gay people during the same-sex marriage debate
Other CLM members also justified violence against protesters as defending children against perceived transgender ideologies enabled by a “left-wing government.”
“They swing in your backyard and when your Christian brethren flinched ONCE, do you turn on them? Fight for your children [with] ALL the resources needed,” someone wrote in one of CLM’s WhatsApp groups.
“It’s like cornering a dog sooner or later and it’s going to bite.”
However, another CLM organizer, Charlie Taouk, said images of the chaos gave the group a bad name.
“This is not what we stand for. I don’t care if they’re pedophiles [sic] or gay or even a tree, we can’t be violent, it just hurts us and makes them look like victims,” he wrote.
Mr Bakhos started CLM at least five years ago and initially gained support during the same-sex marriage debate ahead of the 2017 plebiscite.
His group picks up on even the slightest controversy to accuse opponents of “mocking God” and persecuting Christians.
One of the earlier protests was against a mural by Scott Marsh depicting the openly gay singer George Michael as a saint after his death in 2016.
Mr Bakhos posted a video of former Finks bikie Benjamin Gittany painting over it. Gittany was fined for vandalism and later convicted of drug offenses.
During the World Pride festival, he went on a rampage against two other murals that were defaced soon after, once again celebrating their destruction.
CLM was also behind a campaign that led to radio star Kyle Sandilands fawningly apologizing for joking that the Virgin Mary was a “liar” who was “slapped behind a camel shed” in 2019.
More recently, Mr. Bakhos dressed a model as a ‘sexy nun’ during a photo shoot outside St Mary’s Cathedral, yelling at them until they left and the photographer deleted the footage.
But the group’s biggest notoriety came after a comedian made a controversial joke about Jesus on The Project on Feb. 28.
Reuben Kaye joked, “I love Jesus, I love any man who can get nailed three days straight and come back for more.”
CLM responded by pecking Channel 10 headquarters and days later marching loudly through Newtown reciting the Catholic rosary.
Drinkers at the Bank Hotel, along the march route, claimed they were attacked through the window of the pub when they objected to having popcorn thrown at them.
The group has grown to 26,000 members on Facebook and 18,300 on Instagram in the wake of the controversy.
Mr Bakhos confronted a model dressed as a ‘sexy nun’ during a photo shoot outside St Mary’s Cathedral and yelled at them until they left and the photographer deleted the footage
CARR called Tuesday evening a “brutal attack on peaceful demonstrators, who literally didn’t say a single word to the far-right crowd before being attacked.”
‘[It] should make it clear that Christian Lives Matter is a violent fascist hate group backed by One Nation and Mark Latham, who did nothing to stop the spate of violent attacks carried out in its name,” it said.
Mr Latham said both sides should resolve their differences at the ballot box in Saturday’s NSW election.
“Police told me there had been violence on the front street so I thoroughly condemned that and urged everyone to disperse peacefully,” he wrote on Twitter.
“I did not see what happened on the front street, but I would like to express my sincere best wishes to the injured and thank the police officers involved for their work. No one should take the law into their own hands. Violence at political events is wrong.’