The lack of arrests at a white supremacist march in regional Victoria has been defended despite political and community leaders dubbing the group cowards.
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Masked men dressed in black marched along Sturt Street in Ballarat on Sunday, chanting and holding a banner reading "Australia for the White Man".
No arrests were made, with police cars seen travelling behind and in front of the group.
The demonstration was unplanned and police say they are investigating reports of a Nazi salute being performed.
A 15-year-old boy, who was not attached to the group, was spoken to by police but no charges have been laid.
Ballarat Mayor Des Hudson condemned the balaclava-veiled group of 20 or 30 men, calling them out as hateful "cowards" for hiding their faces.
Mr Hudson did not criticise police ushering the group down the road, especially given the ad-hoc nature of the demonstration.
"Everyone was caught by surprise," he told AAP.
"At the time, escorting them through and getting them out of town has probably been a fairly effective strategy rather than taking them to task, which I probably think is what they were looking for."
Victoria outlawed Nazi gestures and symbols in public from October, with fines of more than $23,000 or 12 months in prison.
The change was triggered by the same group performing the salute outside Victorian parliament in March.
When the ban was first announced, Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation director David Slucki said it would do little to eradicate Nazism.
Sunday's march was entirely unsurprising and police could have used Victoria's racial discrimination and incitement laws to arrest the group, Mr Slucki said.
"Maybe a situation like this calls for arrests because it feels like that becomes protected speech," the Monash University associate professor told AAP.
While alarmed as a member of the Jewish community, Mr Slucki stressed the group were a "very tiny group of loudmouths".
"I also caution a little restraint that we don't look at these clowns and think that it's 1938 Germany," he said.
He questioned the feasibility of banning demonstrators from wearing facial coverings but flagged some members remained unidentified, potentially avoiding consequences from their employers.
"There's protests and then there's rallies that incite hatred and violence and a blanket ban on face coverings, I don't know how you enforce something like that when you're on the back end of a global pandemic," he said.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said officers were limited in what they could do to counteract the protest.
"If it was up to us, it would be dead-set illegal," he told Nine's Today show.
"But it's not - it's up to the government."
Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto said the opposition wanted law changes to give Victoria Police more powers so they don't have to choose between making arrests and doing nothing.
He acknowledged protesters would find ways around continual bans on gestures but backed broader powers for police to identify those involved in demonstrations that incite violence or make others feel unsafe.
"We don't want people to think that in the name of free speech, they can engage in violent acts while wearing a balaclava," he said.
Premier Jacinta Allan joined local federal MP Catherine King MP in condemning the hateful behaviour, noting Ballarat was one of the birthplaces of multiculturalism in Victoria as a gold rush town.
"These disgraceful and cowardly acts have no place in Victoria," Ms Allan said.
Ballarat Community Alliance said the "blow-ins" had come to co-opt the legacy of the Eureka Stockade, a rebellion of gold prospectors in the 1850s, on the anniversary of its end.
Australian Associated Press
