Outspoken political activist and Queensland Senate hopeful Drew Pavlou has been met with fury in Sydney after brandishing a sign that read 'F**k Xi Jinping'.
The obscene message against the Chinese President did not go down well shoppers at Eastwood Plaza in Sydney's north-west on Saturday (April 30).
Angry locals and stallholders quickly fired up when Pavlou displayed the rude sign that rubbished the Chinese leader.
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One furious man yelled at him over and over again: "F** you, motherf***er."
Another added: "America has genocide, not Xi Jinping."
Others accused the 20-year-old Queensland Senate hopeful of being a coward and told him to 'f**k off'.
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Chaotic footage posted to Instagram also shows one man ripping the sign from Pavlou’s hand to stomp on it.
Pavlou told the crowd: "We are against the dictatorship. We believe in democracy. Free Hong Kong. Free Taiwan."
Police were called to break up the fracas as tensions continued to escalate.
Later, Pavlou spoke out about the incident on social media.
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He claimed that he would never be assaulted for speaking out against Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the same way.
"My point is a simple one – I should be able to insult a dictator like Xi Jinping in my own country without being physically assaulted and attacked," Pavlou said.
"Australia is a democracy and we should be free to insult any leader no matter how coarsely – this is a simple principle of free speech.
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"No way would I have been surrounded by 50 people and physically assaulted if I held up a sign saying 'f**k Scott Morrison' in Sydney.
"Why should Chinese ultra-nationalists get a free pass to assault people in Australia if someone insults Xi Jinping?"
Pavlou took to Twitter on Sunday (May 1) to reveal he has been charged over the heated altercation in Sydney .
"New South Wales police just called me to tell me I'm getting charged for holding a sign saying 'F**k Xi Jinping' in Sydney," he said on the social media platform.
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"'They won't tell me what the exact charge is and they won't tell me whether the men who physically assaulted us are being charged."
The Brisbane man was in Sydney to lend support to Kyinzom Dhongdue, a Tibetan-heritage candidate who is running for the seat of Bennelong in the upcoming federal election.
The Guardian reports the outspoken 20-year-old has rallied against China in the past, pushing back on Chines interference in the Queensland university system.
Topics: Australia
Rachel Lang