Michael McGowan – The Guardian Sept 5, 2020
At least 15 people have been arrested at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance and Albert Park after at least 200 protesters defied the city’s stage-four lockdowns to hold an anti-lockdown rally on Saturday.
Police in New South Wales also arrested three people at an unauthorised protest in Sydney’s Hyde Park while another protest was held at Sydney’s Olympic Park. Smaller protests were also held in Townsville, Brisbane and Byron Bay.
Organised by a broad coalition of online groups linked by a mish-mash of conspiracy theories, Saturday’s Melbourne protest was planned in defiance of lockdown restrictions, mandates on mask-wearing in Victoria, 5G, vaccinations and “child trafficking and pedophilia”.
Victoria police took a hardline approach to the protests in the lead-up to Saturday, charging five people with incitement for their alleged involvement in organising the protest.
Police arrest protesters outside Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance on Saturday. Click to enlarge
Among them was Fanos Panayides, a prominent member of Australia’s conspiracy movement and one of the organisers of a similar protest held in Melbourne in May.
Another, James Bartolo, who runs conspiracy website The Conscious Truth Network, posted footage of his arrest online on Saturday.
“Woke up this morning, jumped on the dunny, heard some knocks on the door,” Bartolo wrote on social media. “It was all the cops, they broke down the door, arrested me, they took computers, laptops [and my] phone.
“It is a bit of a pain in the ass. They stole my shit. Whatever. I’m fine.”
The arrests prompted wide-spread confusion among followers in the lead-up to the protest. After he was charged, Bartolo told supporters to not attend the rally because he believed it was “a trap”.
“It is the worst possible thing to do. It is a set-up from the get go. It is all just terrible.”
That confusion appears to have prompted many to stay away from the protest. On encrypted messaging services on Saturday morning, supporters were divided about whether the protest should be cancelled, and attendance in Melbourne was well below what organisers had hoped for.
Nonetheless, footage from the Shrine of Remembrance on Saturday morning showed at least a few hundred protesters, many not wearing masks, chanting “freedom” and hurling abuse at police and media.
A large contingent of riot police and mounted officers clashed with protesters in intermittent melees. Officers were punched by one man before he was fitted with a mask and placed in handcuffs. While Victoria police had not released arrest numbers early on Saturday afternoon, footage showed dozens of people being detained.
After mounted officers drove protesters from the Shrine of Remembrance, footage online showed streams of protesters marching to Albert Park.
Once there, a large police contingent, including officers from the public order response team, surrounded small groups of protesters, arresting them one by one.
In one small group, protesters, some holding QAnon signs, called for officers to “stand with us” and threatened to sue police because they were “protected by the Australian constitution”.
At Sydney’s Hyde Park, two men, aged 44 and 54, were arrested for allegedly assaulting police, while a woman was arrested for failing to comply with a move on direction.
In Byron Bay, in the state’s north, eight people were arrested at an unauthorised anti-lockdown protest earlier on Saturday, with charges including assault of police officers.
Earlier, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, labelled the protesters “selfish”.
“It is not smart, it is not safe, it is not lawful, in fact it is absolutely selfish to be out there protesting,” he said.
“The only fight we should be engaged in is against this virus.”
Victoria police said the protests were “disappointing” and were “putting the lives of Victorians at risk”.
They said more than 150 infringement notices were issued. Fourteen of the arrests were for breaching the chief health officer’s directions, while one was for allegedly assaulting police.
“Our investigations into this protest will continue, and we expect to issue further fines once the identity of individuals has been confirmed.”
Ironically, I was listening to Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ when I saw this disgraceful piece of dystopian lunacy on this website. The Aussie stormtroopers (Orcs) doing the dirty work of the putrid and odious Judeo-Masonic cabal (Sauron). Normally, I don’t have much time for Aussies. But in the words of AC/DC – ‘For Those About To Protest I Salute You’.
Every one of those brave and courageous souls is a HERO of gargantuan proportions !!!
Just do not go there.Give it to the good people of Asia.Civilised folk.
Out of every positive, there’s a negative.
Although there were many arrests and people are being persecuted terribly in Australia and New Zealand, this is showing the world WHO the police really work for.
They do NOT protect and serve the public, far, far, from it.
The police protect the ELITES from the public.
They fail to see that by doing what they do they have shown the people of this world they are their enemy.
How many people in the world?
How many police?
Bad move on anyone joining the police.
To any police reading this – THERE WILL BE NO QUARTER GIVEN when civil chaos goes global. Your inevitable end is swinging from a rope, that is if you’re lucky. I am really, truly and utterly shocked how you can oppress your own nation all for the Jew who wants to depopulate 95% of the world’s population. If that hasn’t sunk in then try this – THAT INCLUDES YOU, YOUR FAMILY AND LOVED ONES MORON!
Millions of white Christian Aussie morons helped fight & vanquish pro-white Fascism in WWII, so you could live in an anti-white Judeo-Communist state.
Great the Aussies are waking up and telling their Nazi government to FO. I only wish Canadians had more guts.
I’m not so keen on the police. They they are basically normies with an income and pension agenda motivating their actions. Just an idea: should we take the opportunity to sew dissension in their ranks by taking an opportunity to tell them – Blunkett Bobbies in the UK too – that it’s all a scam when we see them in the street. Explain a thing or two ? Gauge their reactions. After all their pyramid will be giving them the usual narrative while they might already have doubts.
If there are x thousand coppers (agents), will there be x thousand citizens(men and women) in a country drawing a line in the sand who will stake their life against the materialist visions of the former.
They are one of the layers protecting the deep state. But ultimately the requirement to have a jab to obtain work, travel, and obtain welfare will be the indirect way in which I believe they will roll this out.
When men and women won’t take a jab and are bereft of economic participation and sustenance then we will see how great a public pension is against our native barbarism that is just waiting to wash those who would enslave us into eternity.
Still haven’t proven themselves worth fighting for.