It’s strange that this comment is demanding skepticism while declaring “Authoritarians always hold counter protests, always.”

To contradict that assertion: The flash bang video in that article clearly shows many flags front and centre of the Melbourne counter-protest are anarcho-socialist flags. Out of all ideologies, it’s tough to get any more anti-authoritarian than them.

And, as we’ve seen, the March for Australia protests that these people are counter-protesting is organised and lead by neo-Nazis, Nazism being infamously and proudly authoritarian.

Looking at history, I don’t think “authoritarian/anti-authoritarian” is a useful lens for analysing state politics, but if we’re using it, we can tell that the counter protest is not the authoritarian side. I mean, some of them are literally throwing things at the authority, how could they be any clearer.