Concerned residents in Forestville and Killarney Heights have been removing a trail of stickers promoting the National Socialist Network, an extremist group that advocates for a “White Australia”.Locals have discovered the colourful stickers from the Melbourne-based neo-Nazi organisation, with the slogan “Australia for the White Man”, on power poles in residential streets.A female resident told a community Facebook page that she removed two stickers, at different times, from the bus shelter next to the children’s playground in Cook St at Forestville.A sticker has also turned up at the Poppy Park playground and public barbecue area at the Forestville War Memorial Playing Fields.Resident Don Matthews, who found a sticker on a power pole near his home on Sunday evening, alerted the community through Facebook.Mr Matthews told the Manly Daily he wanted to bring the presence of the group’s racist material to the notice of his neighbours.“On one hand I think the community needs to know that this repulsive material is in the community,” he said.“But on the other hand does that give the group more publicity than it deserves?”The group, which has posted photographs of its members performing the Nazi salute, gained national notoriety earlier this year after it was reported by News Corp that up to 40 of its members burnt crosses and chanted racist slogans while on a trip to western Victoria in January.NCA Newswire has reported that it has stepped up its recruitment and propaganda activities in Sydney over the past year.It reported that ASIO believed that extreme right-wing groups and individuals represented a serious, increasing and evolving threat to security and the groups were increasingly radicalising numbers of young Australians. On its website the group said it was made up of “White Australians dedicated to bringing the National Socialist message to our people and forming local groups of like-minded activists.” When contacted by the Manly Daily about the stickers NSW Police released a statement saying that “each police area command and police district in NSW plays an active role in investigating any report of bias-motivated crime.“This includes offensive and/or threatening messaging on graffiti, posters, and stickers; and other offences motivated by bias, hate, political views or ideology,” a spokesman said.Northern Beaches Council said if residents had complaints about offensive material or graffiti in public places it could contact the council.“Any report about inappropriate graffiti or posters will be looked at,” a council spokesman said.Police urged members of the community to report information to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.



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