A man has been charged for allegedly performing Nazi salutes inside a Sydney hotel and refusing to leave.
New South Wales police officers were patrolling Pitt Street in the Sydney CBD on Friday night when they were flagged down by a hotel security guard shortly after 7pm.
Police were told a 68-year-old man had allegedly performed Nazi salutes inside the hotel and did not leave when asked.
He was arrested by police a short time later and taken to Day Street police station.
He was charged making a Nazi salute in public, as well as knowingly displaying a Nazi symbol without excuse and failing to leave a premises when asked.
He was refused bail and scheduled to appear before Parramatta local court on Saturday.
Laws prohibiting the display of Nazi symbols were introduced by the NSW parliament in 2022. An inquiry recommended the ban in a bid to tackle rising antisemitism. NSW became the second state to do so after Victoria.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of 12 months’ jail, an $11,000 fine or both.
Two of the first people convicted under laws that outlawed displays of Nazi symbolism had their guilty verdicts overturned in November after a judge found their public salutes could not be definitively linked to the fascist German regime.
– with AAP
