Former student, and currently Queensland senate candidate Drew Pavlou said he was verbally abused and intimidated by Chinese ultra-nationalists reported Australian media.
According to media reports, the 20 year-old Greek Australian was protesting against China with a sign that read 'F**k Xi Jinping’ in the Sydney suburb of Eastwood which has one of the highest Chinese populations.
In a video published on Pavlou's twitter account it can been seen that the protest sparked an angry reaction with some bystanders calling him “motherf**ker” and “son of a b**ch” with Pavlou claiming that there was also an attempt to smash his photographer’s camera. In the clip one man is seen as physically grabbing Pavlou's sign and throwing it to the ground.
Bizarrely Pavlou suggested that police wanted to charge him, as he implores viewers to watch the clips: "New footage from yesterday when I was assaulted in the heart of Sydney for protesting against Xi Jinping. One of the thugs who tried to bash me yelled “Fuck Australians.” And yet NSW Police apparently want to charge ME with incitement - the peaceful protestor who was attacked."
Speaking with 2GB’s Ben Fordham on Monday morning, Drew Pavlou defended his actions and said he was “intimidated” by bystanders and labelled them as “fascists”.
“How many times do you see signs at the climate rallies (that say f*** Sco Mo)?” said the senate candidate.
“No one gets attacked when they put up a sign like that, no one gets charged by police.”
Pavlou is well known for his political stance against China, when back in 2020 as a student, he faced expulsion from the University of Queensland after disciplinary hearing on April 27, 2020.
Pavlou is an outspoken critic of the Chinese government and defender of the Hong Kong protestors, and therein lies the problem for the University of Queensland.
In an interview on Sky News, Pavlou said he had a court case against Dr. Xu Jie, China’s Consul General in Brisbane who is also an honorary professor at the University of Queensland.
“I’m taking him to court because he labelled me as a separatist and endorsed the violent attacks I faced at UQ,” Pavlou had said.
