An Australian senator on Thursday criticised "the rise of the radical right" after he was racially abused by a group of men at a pub in Melbourne.
Senator Sam Dastyari, who was born in Iran, was harassed on Wednesday night with taunts calling him a "terrorist" and "little monkey", reports the BBC.
The incident was filmed and posted on the Facebook page of a group describing themselves as "concerned patriots".
In the footage, the senator is surrounded at a bar and told by one man to "go back to Iran, you terrorist", among other taunts.
Dastyari says: "I think you guys are a bunch of racists. You are embarrassing yourself."
Footage taken later shows the men standing over the senator as he is seated with friends, who step in to help the senator.
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One man who approached Dastyari, Neil Erikson, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the senator "called us rednecks, which is a racist term in fact".
In September, Erikson was one of three men found guilty by a magistrate of inciting contempt of Muslims after the men staged a mock beheading to protest against the building of a mosque.
The state of Victoria has laws making it illegal to vilify a person or group on the basis of their race or religion.
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