MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned anti-Indigenous rights protesters who disrupted two Anzac Day dawn services on Friday as hundreds of thousands gathered across the nation to commemorate their war dead.
“The disruption of Anzac Day is beyond contempt and the people responsible must face the full force of the law,” Albanese told reporters.
“This was an act of low cowardice on a day when we honor courage and sacrifice,” he added.
The protests come during a heightened political atmosphere ahead of general elections on May 3 in which Indigenous rights are a campaign issue.
April 25, 1915 was the day when the newly-formed Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed on the beaches of Gallipoli, in northwest Turkey, in an ill-fated campaign that was the soldiers’ first combat of World War I.
It is considered Australia’s most unifying national holiday and a sacred day when political point-scoring and protest are generally avoided.
A group of hecklers including self-described Nazi Jacob Hersant booed and jeered during a dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne where 50,000 gathered.
In Perth, a lone man yelled briefly during a dawn service at Kings Park before the 25,000 people who surrounded him persuaded him to stay silent, a police statement said. The man left soon after.
The disruptions were triggered in both cities by the so-called Welcome to Country ceremony, which is held at the outset of many Australian public events in which Indigenous leaders welcome visitors to their traditional land.
The Melbourne-based First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, an Indigenous advocacy group, said in a statement it “strongly condemns the racist attack during the Welcome to Country” in Melbourne.
Albanese said the disruptions in both Melbourne and Perth were a “disgrace.”
“There is no place in Australia for what occurred,” Albanese said.
In Melbourne, the interruptions continued after the Welcome to Country at any mention by speakers of Indigenous soldiers or traditional owners of Australia.
Hecklers yelled “this is our country” and “we don’t have to be welcomed,” echoing a slogan of the minor party Trumpet of Patriots. The party’s extensive advertising is funded by mining magnate Clive Palmer and party officials say they are inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies.
The hecklers were drowned out by the applause of others who urged the speakers to continue.
Lawmakers in the opposition conservative Liberal Party have complained that Welcome to Country ceremonies have become too prevalent and cost the center-left Labor Party government 452,953 Australian dollars ($289,602) over two years.
But opposition leader Peter Dutton on Friday defended the place of such Indigenous ceremonies on Anzac Day.
“Welcome to Country is an important part of official ceremonies and it should be respected. I don’t agree with the booing and I don’t agree, in our democracy, that people can’t accept the views of others,” Dutton told reporters. “We have a proud Indigenous heritage in this country and we should be proud to celebrate it as part of today.”
Police were seen escorting Hersant away from the Melbourne service. Hersant is a leader of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Network and last year became the first person in Australia to be sentenced to prison for performing an outlawed Nazi salute.
He remains free on bail because his appeal against a one-month prison sentence has yet to be heard.
“They want to humiliate us over and over again,” Hersant told reporters before police led him away, referring to Indigenous leaders. .
Hersant’s lawyer did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment on Friday.
Victoria Police confirmed a 26-year-old Melbourne man had been directed to leave the service. They did not confirm the suspect's identity in accordance with its usual policy.
The suspect had been interviewed over an allegation of offensive behavior and would be issued a summons to appear in court, a police statement said.
Video showed at least one other protester repeating a white supremacist slogan being dragged away from the service by a member of the public.
Western Australia Police Force said the Perth service disruption remained under investigation.
“The Anzac Day service is a solemn commemoration and any disorderly behavior at such commemorations will not be tolerated by police,” a police statement said.
FILE - Jacob Hersant speaks outside the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 8, 2024, before his is sentenced after he was convicted for performing the Nazi salute. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk, FILE)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
