A social media campaign which sprang up in the midst of the Sydney cafe siege has been critcised by a Liberal MP as a "pathetic left wing campaign" that creates "false victims".
Thousands of people took to Twitter to offer messages of support to Muslims that may be concerned to catch public transport as the hostage crisis continued, using the #illridewithyou hashtag to counter any potential anti-Islamic backlash.
North Queensland MP George Christensen tweeted on Wednesday, “#illridewithyou is a typical pathetic left wing black arm band brigade campaign, casting Aussies as racists who will endanger Muslims.”
“It's saying people of the Muslim faith on public transport are not safe because there's going to be Australians out there who are going to attack them," Mr Christensen told the ABC.
Mr Christensen said he took offence to the fact that the campaign started on Monday night while the siege was still ongoing, adding that it detracted from the victims and hostages of the siege.
“This Twitter campaign started while the hostages were still at gun point, and that's what I find sickening about the whole thing … I mean, really it was a diversion of attention from where the focus should have been, for most people,” he said.
While Mr Christensen is standing by his comments his colleagues have distanced themselves from his remarks.
The Federal member for Herbert, Ewen Jones MP, tweeted, “Just want to distance myself from comments by @GChristensenMP . Completely insensitive and ignorant of the motive #illridewithyou.”
Mr Jones said he was reluctant to comment because he did not want to perpetuate his Mr Christensen's opinion, but felt compelled to do so because he felt his view was wrong.
Meanwhile, United States President Barack Obama has praised the #Illridewithyou social media movement during a phone call with Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
In a statement, he said "the Australian public's embrace of #Illridewithyou and the Muslim leaders who have disavowed the actions of the hostage taker" and "praised Australia's rejection of any violence taken in the name of religion and the fear this violence seeks to stoke".
