'Genocide supporters' : Australian PM Albanese heckled, asked to 'get out' of Sydney mosque during Eid prayers | Watch

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits Lakemba Mosque for Eid al-Fitr in Sydney on Friday. (Credit: Reuters)

• Albanese heckled at Sydney mosque over Gaza stance on Eid
• Muslim community criticizes government's stance on Israel-Gaza conflict
• Mosque leaders urged calm; Albanese praised event as "positive"

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday was heckled during Eid prayers at a mosque in Sydney by protesters who voiced anger over his stance on Israel's ‌offensive in Gaza.

Albanese and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke were at Lakemba Mosque -- one of the largest in Australia - after being invited by community leaders to attend Eid prayers, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

According to BBC, there is a deep resentment among the Muslim community in Australia over the government's response to the Israel-Gaza war and rising Islamophobia at home.

Videos that now have gone viral on social media shows protesters interrupting proceedings about ​15 minutes after Albanese and Burke joined ⁠worshippers at the mosque.

Several people who congregated at the mosque for the Eid prayers accused the pair of being "genocide supporters" (referring to Israel's killing of Palestinians in Gaza), shouting "boo" and "get out of here" even as a mosque leader asked them to observe restraint.

"Dear brothers and sisters, keep calm a little bit," one of the organisers told the ​crowd, urging people to sit down and stop filming the exchange. "It is Eid. ​It is a joyful day."

A man who was shouting at Albanese was removed from the mosque by police but later released without charge and told to move on, according to news agency Australian Associated Press.

According to BBC, shortly after the event finished, the Lebanese Muslim Association, which operates the mosque, released a statement saying Albanese was welcome at the prayers and that they would "continue to open" their doors.

"We understand that emotions are high, particularly given the ongoing suffering in Gaza and the devastation in Lebanon...Choosing to engage with the elected leadership of this country is not a betrayal of those concerns. It is how we give them a voice," said the association.

The mosque also said that Friday's event was the first time the prime minister had been invited to attend prayers since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Meanwhile, despite the incident, Albanese said the mosque event was "incredibly positive" and he was overwhelmed by the reception.

"If you got a couple of people heckling in a crowd of 30,000, that should be put in ​that perspective," the Australian PM told reporters, suggesting some frustration stemmed from the government's recent moves to outlaw extremist organisations such as Hizb ut-Tahrir following a deadly mass shooting at Sydney's Bondi Beach on December 14 last year.

The Australian government led by Anthony Albanese — which aligned with the UK and Canada in formally recognising a Palestinian state late last year — has faced criticism over its handling of both the Gaza crisis and a deadly shooting in Bondi in December that claimed 15 lives during a Jewish gathering.