Anger among the Muslim community at the Australian government spilled over into an Eid prayer gathering in western Sydney attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, with a handful of attendees calling for the leader to be kicked out of the mosque.Leaders attending the event in Lakemba, part of Burke’s constituency, were sitting among thousands of people ahead of Eid celebrations when a handful of people started heckling during speeches after prayers, ABC News reported. Shouts of “Boo Tony Burke, boo Albanese,” “genocide supporters” and “get them out of here” rang out, although many others in the crowd appeared to welcome it.NSW Police were called to the mosque about 8am due to a disturbance and ordered a 33-year-old man to leave. He was escorted out without any further incident.The man, Sheikh Mukhlis, said he was thrown down the stairs barefoot after confronting Albanese and Burke.“The question we need to ask ourselves is why are they in our sacred place, in our sacred time, standing in front and smiling for pictures,” he said in a social media video.“The irony is that if you listen to what the sheikh actually said in his khutbah, you will see that our happiness is incomplete because there is no peace in Gaza and there is war in Lebanon.”Due to ongoing tensions between the Muslim community and the federal government, there was disagreement over whether the federal government should be invited to the event.Tensions have risen amid criticism of the government’s response to Israel’s Gaza war, a rise in Islamophobic attacks in Australia and the response of New South Wales police to Muslim men praying during protests in Sydney.The Lakemba Mosque itself has received several hateful and threatening letters this year, which it says has frightened the community.Today is the first time since October 7, 2023 that the Lebanese Muslim Association has invited Albanese to visit the Lakemba Mosque.Hajj Gamel Kheir, secretary and spokesman of the Lebanese Muslim Association, said choosing to re-engage with the government was a way of expressing their concerns.“Abandoning participation does not advance our communities or change outcomes overseas,” he said in a statement after the incident this morning.“We’re not leaving the door open to show up.“We do this because real conversations need access and because our community deserves to be heard directly, not talked about from a distance.”After the riot, Albanese posted on social media that he was honored to go to the Lakemba Mosque.“Eid al-Fitr. It is my honor to join thousands of people at the Lakemba Mosque this morning for Eid al-Fitr,” he said.Earlier this month, Albanese also visited the Lakemba Ramadan Night Market with his wife Jodie and Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Bilal El-Hayek.
