Hundreds of protesters faced off with left-wing opponents yesterday in a standoff over plans to build a mosque in a rural Australian town, the latest anti-Islam protest since a Muslim teenager killed a police officer this month. Right-wing activists from the United Patriots Front, which says that its aim is opposing the spread of Islam, faced off with members of a left-wing coalition promoting tolerance in the town of Bendigo in Victoria state. The dispute began over plans to build a mosque in the town and has been simmering for months. Police said four arrests were made, but all were subsequently released.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
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