Shocked Melbourne couple claim they were threatened with arrest on Australia Day for doing one simple, patriotic act

A patriotic couple say they were ‘stunned’ when they were threatened with arrest by a police officer for wearing Australian flags in their hats while shopping on Australia Day.

Flag bearer Frank Strazdins was with his partner Di Thorley when he said crowd noise made him walk into the middle of Melbourne’s central Swanston Street on Thursday afternoon, where he attended an “Invasion Day” rally with “thousands of Aboriginal and Palestine flags ‘.

“A police officer approached me… and said, ‘You are under arrest for inciting a riot,'” Strazdins told Sky News program The Bolt Report on Monday.

Mr Strazdins found it difficult to understand and said he asked the officer ‘what and how?’.

READ MORE: ‘Legend’ hands out Australian flags outside Woolworths in protest against supermarket giant dumping patriotic merchandise

‘He (the police officer) said, “Well, the flags on your head.”

‘I said, “Well, today is Australia Day.”

The officer escorted Mr Strazdins from the road to the shop where Ms Thorley was browsing while adorned in her own Australian flag headgear.

“I was walking to the clothing store and he was on my shoulder the whole way,” Strazdins said.

Once inside the store, Mr Strazdins told Ms Thorley he had been arrested for ‘inciting a riot’.

“Di turned around and said, ‘what?’ said Mr. Strazdins.

“And the police officer said, ‘There are 30,000 people out there and this is the problem.’

Ms Thorley told the police officer she had no idea there were 30,000 protesters outside.

“And then he seemed to pull away, he wasn’t that angry,” Ms Thorley said.

Mr Strazdins told the officer the pair wanted to go to the Southbank entertainment district, across the Yarra River, for a drink.

‘He said, “Okay, if you take your flags down, take care of yourself and cross the side streets to get to Southbank.”

After walking out of the store, Mr. Strazdins said he felt the police officer watching him intently for “another five minutes.”

Mr Strazdins told the Sky News program The Bolt Report that he was ‘stressed’ and ‘very disappointed’ by what had happened.

“Once I started walking, I really started to stress,” Mr. Strazdins said.

‘I felt really disappointed, I was stunned by what happened.’

Ms Thorley said she still ‘can’t believe what we’ve been through’.

“You have no right against 30,000,” he told interviewer Andrew Bolt.

Earlier in the day, as they attended the 21-gun Australia Day salute at the Shrine of Remembrance near the CBD, the couple said carrying the flags had singled them out, but in a good way.

“We had them on all day,” Strazdins said.

‘We only saw two other flags in four hours. We got a thumbs up a few times.

‘I could feel what movie stars were like. People wanted pictures and that really surprised me and Di.

“We thought, how great is this?” Even professional photographers came to take our photos. It was just brilliant.’

The ‘Invasion Day’ rally in Melbourne was the reason the police officer reportedly gave for the arrest

But even during the tram ride, Mr. Strazdins said he was disappointed to see graffiti on the seats that read “Burn the colony.”

Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia they were not aware of the alleged incident in Melbourne on January 26.

“There was a visible police presence in the CBD on Australia Day to ensure the safety of the community and there were no significant issues,” a police spokesperson said.

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