Protect Victoria, a group formed earlier this year following the Bourke Street car attack and which has more than 30,000 Facebook members, will hold its first rally this Sunday.
Members of the group will descend on Caroline Springs’ The Grange Village Park from noon as they continue to push for harsher penalties for serious violent crime, particularly for repeat offenders.
While the group has held safety forums in the past, Protect Victoria founder Hayden Bradford said the Caroline Springs event will be its first rally.
“Based on what our members wanted, we thought a peaceful rally was the way to go,” he said.
“It won’t be like one of those rallies you see on the news, it’ll be a friendly, peaceful event held in the park, suitable for families and children.
“We’d like to get over 1000 people there, but we’ll be happy with a healthy turnout. These things take time to build.”
The group has steadily expanded since its creation and Mr Bradford said there was a jump in members each time a new incident generated media coverage.
“Each time there’s a story about home invasions or carjackings on the news, we see a surge in new members,” he said.
“It’s pretty clear to me that these sort of numbers show that people are fed up with the soft system we have at the moment.”
Mr Bradford has created a petition, asking the government to conduct a full review and overhaul of the Victorian judicial system and to provide a tougher alternative to its policies around crime and youth detention.
“At the end of the day, the government doesn’t care about Facebook numbers, but by signing our petition and coming along to our events, peaceful people power will bring about change,” he said.
“We’re not a vigilante group, nor are we racist or anti-police. We’re simply fed up with crime and want to see change brought about.
“There’s an election next year, but that’s too long to wait, we need change now and that’s only going to come with people power.”
