A man charged under South Australia’s new anti-Nazi laws has been released on bail, as 14 men arrested at a march in Adelaide on Australia Day have begun appearing in court.

Fifteen men and one youth whom police allege are members of the National Socialist Network were arrested on Sunday and charged with various street offences including failing to cease loitering, possessing articles of disguise, hindering and resisting arrest.

A police prosecutor told Adelaide Magistrates Court today that at 11am on Sunday, 40 NSN members dressed in black assembled at the South Australian War Memorial.

“That’s the context of the entire group that we’ve got (appearing in court) today,” she said.

“The National Socialist Network is a right-wing extremist group with national socialist ideology.

“The group aims at preparing for a race war which it believes will usher in a white separatist ethno state.”

The charged men are from SA, Victoria, NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Social media posts instructed members to wear black clothing and black face masks “because it erases our individual identity and absorbs it into a collectivity of the nation”, the prosecutor said.

“A media interview with the National Socialist Network further stated that if they don’t cover up their identities, they lose their jobs.”

Mason James Robbins, 30, from Perth, was the first man to appear in court, charged with carrying an offensive weapon or article of disguise and using a Nazi symbol.

Under tough new laws introduced in SA last year, people found displaying swastikas or Nazi symbols in public or performing a Nazi salute could be fined up to $20,000 or face a year in jail.

The charge of displaying a Nazi symbol is linked to the wearing of the insignia of the NSN.

There would be an issue “lurking in the background” about “the constitutional protection of the implied freedom of political communication”, Robbins’ lawyer said.

“It gives rise to questions about the validity of any law that seeks to prevent contact and communication between members of, if you like, a political party,” the lawyer said.

But the prosecutor said the groups were “not a political party” and had taken part in a “co-ordinated incident resulting in criminal offences”.

Magistrate Luke David released Robbins on $600 bail, with strict conditions, including an exclusion from the Adelaide city area, a ban on wearing disguises in public, a ban on possessing firearms and a ban on associating with 30 named people and members of the NSN and European Australian Movement.

He returns to court on March 11.

Shannon George Bartel, 24, of Adelaide was also released on $600 bail after appearing on a charge of loitering.

Bartel, who is a removalist, had similar bail conditions imposed, but he was excluded from a smaller area of the Adelaide CBD, including war memorials, statues and monuments.

He returns to court on March 12.

The court has adjourned and more men are expected to appear this afternoon, including James Allan Holliday, 25, from Perth.

He is charged with carrying an offensive weapon or article of disguise, using a Nazi symbol, and giving a Nazi salute.

Also yet to appear is the NSN’s leader, far-right activist Thomas Sewell, 31, from Victoria, who is charged with loitering.

A 16-year-old Victorian boy charged with failing to cease loitering was bailed to appear in Adelaide Youth Court on March 21.

A 58-year-old NSW man charged with possessing an article of disguise was given police bail.

Police said a 29-year-old man arrested today and charged with two counts of displaying a Nazi symbol had been refused police bail and would face court later in the day or tomorrow.