Unmasking the men who attended a Neo-Nazi protest outside NSW parliament

On Saturday, around 60 men dressed in black rallied at a protest organised by the Neo-Nazi group National Socialist Network at NSW Parliament House, where a banner that read "Abolish the Jewish lobby" was displayed.

Unusually, the men were unmasked, allowing journalists to identify them and discover details about their lives from social media.

One of the men photographed standing in the front row was Matthew Gruter, who moved from South Africa to Australia in 2022.

An online job profile for Mr Gruter lists his employer as multinational design, engineering and consulting firm Aurecon. He is listed as a senior civil engineer — water and wastewater.

A spokesman for Aurecon told ABC NEWS Verify the company was "looking into the matter", but did not confirm whether Mr Gruter was employed by the company.

Information posted online by Mr Gruter's wife suggests that he moved to Australia on a visa that required sponsorship by an Australian business.

Verifying Mr Gruter's identity

Mr Gruter appears in photos wearing a silver bracelet engraved with the words "blood and honour" — a term originally associated with the Hitler Youth.

The phrase was also shouted multiple times during the Parliament House rally.

ABC NEWS Verify matched photographs of Mr Gruter from the protest with other photographs present on social media, aided by research from anti-fascist researchers, the White Rose Society.

The photo above shows Mr Gruter wearing the same sunglasses as the man at the protest.

Another photo shows him wearing the same style of Helly Hansen jacket worn on the day, which is popular with NSN members.

When contacted, Mr Gruter denied being at the protest.

But when asked about the bracelet, among other things, he responded: "Since when is it a crime to love and advocate for your own people?"

His wife's social media accounts show the couple travelling around Australia.

One image shows Mr Gruter with a tattoo in what appears to be Hebrew script.

Kaz Ross, an independent researcher who studies the far right, says recruiting tactics have changed over the years.

"That 1.0 [Nazi] was kind of 'Romper Stomper' — that image," she said.

"You might be organising to tribe and train, but the politics is secondary — the idea is to build numbers and then hopefully you can recruit people to your cause.

"But [the new strategy] is: 'We will go for anyone in any level of society, and we are successful, we will win, we will be successful, and we have the active club model, but we had the politics thrown in as well,'" she said.

Other individuals at the protest

The appearance of another man at the protest matched photos available on social media of Dean Alessi, a race car enthusiast.

This year, Mr Alessi competed as a driver under his family's racing brand, Alessi Motorsport.

When contacted, he confirmed he was a "proud member of White Australia" —another name which NSN uses to describe itself.

On August 31, both Mr Gruter and the man resembling Mr Alessi were photographed at the March for Australia rally, standing among NSN members and dressed in black.

Also present at the protest and last weekend's rally was Oscar Tuckfield, who in 2018 was revealed to be part of a far-right plot to influence the Young Nationals from the inside.

ABC NEWS Verify has previously reported that Mr Tuckfield was present at the March for Australia rally, where he worked as a marshal and was not dressed in black like the NSN members present.

The March for Australia chief organiser has previously denied knowing that marshals for the event had any association with the NSN.