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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Ben Smee and Eden Gillespie

Facebook blocks Rockhampton mob leader as Queensland MP prepares to meet with him

Facebook Rockhampton Queensland Police Guardian Australia Katarina Carroll Mark Ryan
The MP for Rockhampton, Barry O’Rourke (at right with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk)
The MP for Rockhampton, Barry O’Rourke (at right with Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk) has invited Torin O’Brien to attend a meeting. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

First Nations people in central Queensland say the state government is inflaming local tensions by pushing ahead with plans to meet with the former leader of a far-right “patriots” group, who was booted off Facebook after leading a mob to surround the Rockhampton home of an Indigenous teenager.

Guardian Australia on Tuesday revealed that the ringleader of the group, Torin O’Brien, is the former president of a group that regularly posted offensive anti-Islam content online.

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