Alan Yazbek: Prominent Sydney restaurateur to face charges after displaying Nazi sign at protest rally

A well-known restaurateur has been named as the person arrested and charged after allegedly displaying a nazi-style swastika sign at a protest rally in Sydney on the weekend.

Alan Yazbek, who owns the popular Sydney eatery Nomad and various restaurants in Melbourne, including Reine & La Rue, was arrested and taken to Surry Hills Police Station, where he was charged and granted bail.

Police confirmed Mr Yazbek was charged with knowingly displaying a nazi symbol in public after he allegedly held the sign, which said “Stop Nazi Israel”.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that several patrons rushed to cancel bookings on Tuesday night after news of the charges spread among the Jewish community.

Mr Yazbek and his wife Rebecca, an interior architect, have run the popular 200-seat Surry Hills restaurant Nomad since 2013, with food inspired by their travels through Spain, Morocco and the Middle East.

The pair opened a smaller Nomad restaurant in Melbourne’s Flinders Lane in 2021 and then another, Reine & La Rue, in the Cathedral Room at the corner of Queen and Collins Streets in Melbourne’s CBD, which won the Best New Restaurant at The Age Good Food Guide Awards for 2024.

The couple paid $4 million for their home in the affluent eastern Sydney suburb of Woollahra in 2016 but were reported earlier this year to have bought a grand mansion in Melbourne, Hambleton House, in well-to-do Albert Park, for upwards of $11 million.

On Sunday, Mr Yazbek joined the crowd of 10,000 pro-Palestine protesters who had been permitted to march through the streets of Sydney’s CBD, but police allege the 56-year-old failed to heed warnings not to display offensive material.

In a statement, Mr Yazbek told The Daily Telegraph: “So many of us have family in the region. Every loss of life is a tragedy. We’re in mourning.”

He is set to face Downing Centre Local Court on October 24.