An anti-immigration group asked followers how loud they would be booing welcome to country ceremonies at Anzac Day dawn services before multiple events were disrupted on Saturday.

But the group has denied orchestrating a campaign, despite doubling down on its criticism of what it called “woke rituals”.

Booing by right-wing groups of Indigenous elders giving welcome to country speeches marred Anzac Day ceremonies for a second year running, and sparked another public debate about their role at public events. Uncle Ray Minniecon, who served in the armed forces nd was booed while giving a welcome at Sydney’s dawn service, said the mocking was “unexpected and unnecessary, but it happens”.

“Why do people hate us so much? What crime did we commit that brings this out from people? What did we do wrong to them? It’s mysterious to us,” Minniecon said on Sky News.

Opposition to welcome to country ceremonies was encouraged by Fight for Australia, described by its leader as the “sister group” of March for Australia, which has staged major anti-immigration rallies across Australia. Guardian Australia reported on Friday that Fight for Australia had encouraged supporters to contact local RSL branches to ask welcomes to country not be included in Anzac Day ceremonies.

On Friday, the group wrote “Will you be be [sic] booing the welcome to country this year?” alongside a video of Melbourne’s Anzac Day 2025 ceremony, where Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown was booed by members of the National Socialist Network. The video featured superimposed text reading “how loud will you be this year?”

March for Australia has 36,000 followers on its main Facebook page, and a community group with 21,000 members. The organiser of Fight for Australia and March for Australia who goes by the moniker “Bec Freedom”, and has been named as Bec Walker in other media reporting, has 35,000 Facebook followers and nearly 8,000 on social media platform X.

Fight for Australia, which only launched in recent weeks, has much smaller follower numbers including 350 on Facebook and 242 on X. Each of these pages publish similar content and share posts from one another.

Bec Freedom claimed her group did not “organise” the booing but also did not apologise for the activity.

“I’d like to refute that this was a campaign organised by either myself or FightForAustralia/MarchForAustralia. We simply put a few posts up asking people if they would be booing this year due to the amount of grassroots public interest on this topic. But yes, I stand by the content I put out about it,” she said.

She claimed people had booed “to show we aren’t happy with woke rituals taking place at one of our most solemn days in Australia”.

Asked whether it was disrespectful to boo at dawn services, or to boo ex-servicepeople like Minniecon, Bec Freedom responded: “I’d say it is disrespectful to perform woke WTC/ATC on our soldiers’ sacred day.” WTC/ATC is a reference to welcome to country and acknowledgment of country.

“The ceremony [itself] is what was being targeted with the booing, we appreciate everyone’s efforts and service in the army.”

People connected to March for Australia posted footage online on Sunday showing police in Perth approaching five people and blocking them from attending the dawn service.

“Due to your association with the March for Australia group and their actions in the eastern states, you are being removed from the ceremony due to the belief you will interrupt it”, police told them.

In a statement, Western Australian police said they removed 15 people who were identified as members of “issue motivated groups”. No arrests were made.

On Sky News on Monday, Minniecon claimed there had been increased hostility to Indigenous Australians since the voice referendum was defeated, opposed by a national 59-41 margin in 2023.

“All we’re saying, is that you’re on our country, in our land, just acknowledge it and respect whose land you’re on. It’s not that difficult to understand for me. It’s difficult for me to understand why this particular reaction is there,” he told Sky.

The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, on Sunday called the booing at Anzac Day ceremonies “inappropriate and un-Australian”, but claimed the Indigenous acknowledgments were often “overused”, saying: “I would like to see them used less and therefore not devalued as I think they have been over time.”

His remarks were reminiscent of former Liberal leader, Peter Dutton, who condemned booing but claimed welcomes to country were “overdone” during the 2025 election campaign when NSN members protested at the Melbourne Anzac Day ceremony.

Greens leader Larissa Waters on Monday called the booing “utterly disgraceful”, noting many Indigenous people had served in the defence force. Liberal shadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, said it was “unacceptable, disrespectful and unworthy of the Anzac legacy”. One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce on Sky News said he didn’t condone booing, but opposed welcomes to country at dawn ceremonies.

“I think people who have served our nation, who signed on the dotted line, they don’t need to be welcomed to their country,” he said.

The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, speaking on ABC radio on Monday, described the booing as “disgraceful” and noted the history of Indigenous Australians serving and fighting in the nation’s armed forces.

“Welcome to country is just a respectful thing to do. It’s respectful at public events and it’s respectful on Anzac Day. And Anzac Day is a day on which we show respect, and to have booing in the face of that is profoundly disrespectful and, in my mind, goes against all that Anzac Day stands for,” he said.