A video showing a woman confronting a security guard over a patch on his uniform has ignited fierce debate online about the symbol’s meaning.
The footage, filmed at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne‘s north, shows the woman questioning the guard about an Australian flag patch featuring a thin blue line.
‘Why do you have that on you? It’s a white supremacist thing,’ she says in the video.
The guard initially responds, but the woman interrupts: ‘I’m a historian. You need to take it off. I’ve seen you wear it several times.’
He eventually removes the patch as she urges him to ‘look up the thin blue line on Google and actually read into it.’
The thin blue line flag originated in the United States and is used by some as a symbol of support for police.
But the symbol has become controversial, and some police forces, including Victoria and the Northern Territory, have banned it after critics linked it to politics and far-right groups.
After the video was posted online, many Australians rejected the association of the symbol with white supremacy, arguing it simply represents support for police.
A woman called out a security guard at Northland Shopping Centre for wearing a blue line flag (pictured)
The thin blue line flag originated in the United States and is used by some as a symbol of support for police
One commentator, criticised the woman’s stance: ‘So proudly being Australian and wearing the Australian flag on your uniform is classed as white supremacy? What a moron to actually think that is a racist symbol.’
She added: ‘A quick Google search will show you that the thin blue line means solidarity with law enforcement. God forbid people are proud to be Australian these days.’
After the woman posted the video, she received a massive wave of criticism with some viewers going so far as to send her death threats.
Several Aussies have dismissed the international associations with the blue line flag and slammed the Melburnian for labelling the Australian flag and police support as ‘white supremacy’.
One commentator called for the world to ‘bring back common sense’.
‘So proudly being Australian and wearing the Australian flag on your uniform is classed as white supremacy?’ she questioned.
‘What a moron to actually think that is a racist symbol, the Australian flag.
‘A quick Google search will show you that thin blue line means solidarity with law enforcement and police.
‘God forbid, people are proud to be Australian these days. That’s how far our country has fallen in this clown world.’
