Another wave of extremism is sweeping Sydney, this time targeting people of Middle Eastern appearance.
NSW Police on Monday night confirmed it is aware of a planned ‘bashing day’ on Cronulla Beach, south Sydney, on December 27.
A flyer advertising the event has been widely shared across social media.
‘WE RIOT. WOG/MIDDLE EASTERN BASHING DAY. SATURDAY 27TH DECEMBER 2025,’ it states.
‘SPREAD THE WORD AUSTRALIA! STAND THE F*** UP.’
The post is mostly being shared on Snapchat, where messages disappear after 24 hours, but has also made appearances on Facebook and TikTok.
While not explicitly stated in the post, it’s understood the ‘bashing day’ is an act of retribution following the mass shooting at Bondi Beach – which saw two men of Middle Eastern appearance target a Jewish event on Sunday, killing 15.
Most commenters under the posts have condemned the apparent call to action.
A flyer (pictured) advertising a ‘bashing day’ in Cronulla has been shared widely online
The event ignited fears of the 2005 Cronulla Riots (pictured) reoccurring in response to the Bondi Beach massacre
‘This is the most un-Australian response to what has happened,’ one wrote.
‘This is not the way forward,’ another said.
‘This is not the answer. This is only creating more hate and violence. Think of something that brings people together and creates peace,’ another said.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon had urged Australians to stay calm less than four hours after the attack and warned against acts of retribution.
‘I’m well aware on social media that an identity of a person believed to be one of the gunmen has been circulated there,’ he said in a press conference on Sunday night.
‘When I asked for calm, that is really important. This is not a time for retribution.
‘This is a time to allow the police to do their duty.’
However, that call could be easily ignored when even a former prime minister appears to have narrowed the blame to one minority.
Two gunmen targeted a Jewish event at Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing 15 (pictured, a memorial at Bondi on Monday)
Authorities and Australians alike have condemned the planned ‘bashing day’ as un-Australian (pictured, NSW Premier Chris Minns and NSW Police Commissioner May Lanyon)
In his book Australia: A History, Tony Abbott wrote of a ‘notable presence of recent migrants from the Middle East in the pro-Hamas demonstrations that erupted in Sydney and Melbourne’ following the Hamas incursion on Israel on October 7, 2023.
On Monday, Abbott claimed that same unchecked anti-Semitism had led to the ‘abomination’ in Bondi.
‘One leads to the other, in the sense that when you have these unchecked expressions of hatred, sooner or later those expressions of hatred turn into acts of hatred,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.
‘There’s no doubt there’s been a lot of dreadful Jew hating overseas and now we’ve seen the most horrific manifestation of it here,’ he added.
‘We need to redouble our efforts to promote Australian values and guard against the erosion of those values by ideas which are just completely inconsistent with them.
‘…I don’t think all of them are Australian citizens. Why haven’t the non-citizens been deported and the Australian citizens been prosecuted?’
On Monday, NSW Premier Chris Minns warned anyone planning to attend the ‘horrible event’ would be ‘met with the full force of the law.’
‘There will be no tolerance, no tolerance for any kind of retribution, or some kind of vindictive counterassault on anyone in our community,’ he said.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon urged Australians not to commit acts of ‘retribution’ in the wake of the terrorist attack at Bondi (pictured, forensic officers at Bondi Beach on Monday)
NSW Premier Chris Minns warned anyone who attended the ‘bashing day’, which is believed to be a response to the mass shooting, would be ‘met with the full force of the law’ (pictured, mourners and police at Bondi Beach on Monday)
‘We’re not going to allow ever a situation where we descend into some kind of lawlessness.
‘The last thing we need is a descent into vindictive violence. We won’t tolerate it in New South Wales.’
The sentiment was echoed by Cronulla residents and those living in the larger Sutherland Shire.
Many of those locals lived though the 2005 Cronulla Riots which saw over 5,000, mostly, Anglo-Australians ‘reclaim the beach from outsiders’ and attack people of Middle Eastern appearance.
‘I’m in shock. To anyone of Middle Eastern background living in the Shire: please stay safe and prioritise your wellbeing,’ one resident wrote on a community page.
‘You belong here, and you should not have to feel afraid because of hatred like this.’