Ramadan night markets bring thousands of visitors to Sydney 

SYDNEY, Australia (MNTV) — Outside Lakemba mosque of Sydney on Thursday last week, the atmosphere was calm yet quietly vibrant. Soft voices rose above the smell of sweet bread baking, as worshippers and families gathered. Teenagers lingered at the entrance, relaxed and animated in equal measure, reports The Guardian.

For the teenagers, the first day of Ramadan carried a sense of ease. “The first day of Ramadan has good vibes,” one boy said. “It’s safe, not terrorism,” he added. “We are not terrorists.”

The remarks reflected a frustration familiar within the community, particularly in the wake of comments made days earlier by Pauline Hanson, leader of One Nation. Hanson suggested there were no “good Muslims” and singled out Lakemba as somewhere people — “people like her” — “feel unwanted”.

Lakemba, located about 20km west of the Sydney Central Business District, remains a significant hub for Australian Muslims. Each year during Ramadan, more than a million visitors — Muslim and non-Muslim alike — attend the Lakemba night markets.

The teenagers neatly summarized the response of a community long accustomed to Hanson’s rhetoric. “She’s just stereotypical,” one said. “She’s just racist.”

As Sheikh Aref Chaker put it: “More than one million people [would] not come to a suburb where they do not feel welcome.”

As sunset approached and families broke their fast, Lakemba’s streets came alive. Smoke billowed from beneath rows of green and red tents lining Haldon Street, carrying the warm aroma of savoury meats and bread. Parents chased toddlers weaving through the crowds, while groups of friends gathered along curbs hunched over steaming kebabs.

The markets pulsed with their usual energy, promising to continue well into the early hours.

At one stall offering coffee and Nabulsi knafeh — a layered dessert of cheese, pistachio, crispy pastry and saffron bound together by syrup — Bilal, a Lebanese vendor, declared the Nabulsi version superior. Why? “Because it’s Palestinian!”

For him, the markets carried deep cultural meaning. “We used to enjoy Ramadan markets every night. So all the Australian people, the Chinese, the Indian, they get to know that, support it, actually love it. Australians coming all the way from Canberra, Melbourne, different states, they love it.”

Throughout the evening, visitors sampled dishes ranging from bright green coriander chicken to lime-drenched murtabak and Malaysian beef and cheese rolls. Vendors, generous and insistent, often refused payment for drinks or desserts.

“You know, when you are far from home, sometimes it feels like you want something that feels closer to home,” said a visitor named Excel. Sitting beneath the green light of a supermarket, she broke her fast alongside her mother visiting from Jakarta. “It really hits home with the Ramadan vibe,” she said. “I think that’s really special and you can’t really find it.”

For Yisra, a TikToker stopping briefly to chat, the appeal was simple. “The vibe is everyone’s breaking their fast, sitting with their family, everyone is happy. You’ve got the guy that comes around and gives you coffee. There’s excitement, you have all these lights. It’s peaceful, you know – it’s Lakemba.

“What is special is the community. They’re very giving. You’ve got a lot of people from different backgrounds. A lot of culture here.”

Yet beneath the vibrancy, tensions lingered. The community is no stranger to derisive political rhetoric, its celebrations often overshadowed by grief tied to events affecting families and homelands overseas.

In the past month, Lakemba mosque received a series of threats, including a call to kill worshippers — arriving just days after Hanson’s comments. In daily life, Australian Muslims have also reported a surge in Islamophobic sentiment following the Bondi attack.

Chaker spoke of how such threats disrupt the spirit of the holy month. “These death threats, they take away from the ambience of peace,” he said. “People are feeling scared. They are not feeling safe to walk down to the mosque.”

Australia’s race discrimination commissioner called on Hanson to apologize earlier in the week. Bilal El-Hayek, mayor of Canterbury Bankstown, told the ABC that hate speech laws were “quite clear”, referencing prohibitions on public incitement of hatred and violence.

For Chaker, the message to Hanson was direct: words carry consequences. “As someone aspiring to have a greater political presence in this country, you should have the qualities of a leader that unifies the people, that makes them feel safe, not that divides them or incites hatred amongst them.”