Australia: Seven women arrested on suspicion of defacing statue of Jewish feminist

The Victoria Police in Australia arrested and charged seven women on suspicion of damaging the statue of Jewish feminist Zelda D’Aprano (1928-2018) outside the Victorian Trades Hall earlier in March, police said on Friday.

“It’s alleged the women—who are all part of an activist group—attended Victoria Street at approximately 11 a.m. with umbrellas and red spray paint” on March 6, the statement on the police’s website read.

The suspects held the umbrellas up in an attempt to block street cameras and avoid being identified, according to Victoria Police. They then allegedly defaced the statue of the “iconic Melbourne women’s rights campaigner.”

The suspects are aged from 34 to 71 and have been charged with “a range of offences including criminal damage, behaving in a riotous manner in a public place, marking graffiti on a residence without consent, recklessly damaging part of a registered place without a permit and refusing to leave scheduled public place after a warning.”

Six of the women were freed on bail and ordered to appear before Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on Oct. 1, 2026.

Police are looking for an eighth accomplice, who is also part of the activist group.

D’Aprano was an Australian feminist activist, with most of her activities conducted from the ’50s to the ’80s. She went on to co-found the Women’s Action Committee in 1970, which led to the formation of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Melbourne. The statue in her honor was unveiled in 2023.

Meanwhile, police in Australia are searching for a female and three possible accomplices, who on March 25 allegedly swerved a stolen vehicle threateningly at a group of Jews in Melbourne, Jewish community representatives said.

“Australian Jews should be able to walk down the street without being abused, yet for many, that’s no longer the reality,” Robert Gregory, CEO of the Australian Jewish Association, told JNS following the incident.