Australian broadcaster SBS has decided to fire presenter Scott McIntyre for “disrespectful” tweets about ANZAC Day.
SBS says Scott McIntyre’s remarks breached the organization’s code of conduct.
Tweeting on the centenary of the Gallipoli landings in Turkey during World War One, Scott McIntyre wrote that Australia’s and New Zealand’s soldiers had carried out “summary execution, widespread rape and theft”.
Some reporters criticized SBS’s move.
They suggested that firing Scott McIntyre was against the principle of free speech.
Scott McIntyre, who was SBS’s football reporter and TV presenter, put out a series of tweets on April 25.
The presenter wrote: “Remembering the summary execution, widespread rape and theft committed by these <<brave>> Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan.
“The cultification of an imperialist invasion of a foreign nation that Australia had no quarrel with is against all ideals of modern society.”
Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the posts as “despicable”.
“Difficult to think of more offensive or inappropriate comments,” he wrote.
Scott McIntyre has so far made no public comments on his sacking.
Five teenage suspects have been arrested in Australia after police foiled an Islamic State-inspired plot to carry out an attack at ANZAC Day event in Melbourne.
One 18-year-old has been charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist act.
The men were planning to target police at an ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) memorial event in Melbourne next week, police said.
About 200 police officers took part in the counter-terrorism operation in Melbourne early on Saturday, April 18.
Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Neil Gaughan told reporters that evidence suggested the suspects had been influenced by ISIS.
One of the men, Sevdet Besim, appeared briefly in Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 18.
Victoria state police say a second man held on terrorism-related offences is also likely to be charged.
A third man, also 18, was arrested on weapons charges and two other teenagers, aged 18 and 19, were in custody and assisting with inquiries.
Officials referred to possible attacks using “edged weapons”, but Neil Gaughan said there was no evidence to suggest there was “a planned beheading”.
The men were “associates” of Abdul Numan Haider, a teenager shot dead in September 2014 after he stabbed two officers, police said.
ANZAC Day is an annual day of remembrance for servicemen and women from Australia and New Zealand. A series of events are planned for next week to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli, Turkey.
Australian PM Tony Abbott urged people to turn up to memorial events as planned.
“The best thing we can do to counter terrorism… as individuals is to lead normal lives,” he said, adding that the authorities were doing everything possible to keep people safe.
Police said that although officers were the primary target of the alleged plot there was also a threat to the public.
Search operations were continuing at several addresses in the south-east of Melbourne on April 18.
Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, said the police presence at ANZAC Day events would be “significantly increased”.
“These individuals arrested today are not people of faith, they don’t represent any culture,” he added.
“This is not an issue of how you pray or where you were born… this is simply evil, plain and simple.”
Prince William and Kate Middleton have paid their respects to Australia’s war dead on the final day of their tour.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined military personnel, veterans and the public in Canberra to mark Anzac Day.
The Australian War Memorial held a service at dawn, in keeping with tradition, as a reminder of the dawn landing of troops on Gallipoli in 1915.
Prince William and Kate Middleton joined military personnel, veterans and the public in Canberra to mark Anzac Day
Later in the morning Prince William and Kate Middleton, appearing without their son Prince George, laid a wreath at the memorial.
Prince William and Kate Middleton, who have also visited New Zealand during their tour, joined figures including Australia’s PM Tony Abbott and Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove in paying their respects.
The name Anzac Day comes from the acronym used to describe the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.
More than 500,000 Allied soldiers were involved in the Gallipoli campaign, an attempt to open the Dardanelles Strait in modern-day Turkey to Allied navies during World War One.
Tens of thousands of Allied troops, including more than 8,000 Australians, died in the campaign, which failed to achieve its military objectives.
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