{"id":213100,"date":"2020-09-05T07:35:28","date_gmt":"2020-09-05T07:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=213100"},"modified":"2020-09-07T07:55:56","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T07:55:56","slug":"melbourne-anti-lockdown-protests-at-least-15-arrested-in-violent-clashes-with-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=213100","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne anti-lockdown protests: at least 15 arrested in violent clashes with police"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael McGowan \u2013 The Guardian Sept 5, 2020<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At least 15 people have been arrested at Melbourne\u2019s Shrine of Remembrance and Albert Park after at least 200 protesters defied the city\u2019s stage-four lockdowns to hold an anti-lockdown rally on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Police in New South Wales also arrested three people at an unauthorised protest in Sydney\u2019s Hyde Park while another protest was held at Sydney\u2019s Olympic Park. Smaller protests were also held in Townsville, Brisbane and Byron Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n

Organised by a broad coalition of online groups linked by a mish-mash of conspiracy theories<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, Saturday\u2019s Melbourne protest was planned in defiance of lockdown restrictions, mandates on mask-wearing in Victoria, 5G<\/a>, vaccinations and \u201cchild trafficking and pedophilia\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Police arrest protesters outside Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance on Saturday. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

Among them was Fanos Panayides, a prominent member of Australia\u2019s conspiracy movement and one of the organisers of a similar protest held in Melbourne in May<\/strong><\/span>.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Another, James Bartolo, who runs conspiracy website The Conscious Truth Network, posted footage of his arrest online on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWoke up this morning, jumped on the dunny, heard some knocks on the door,\u201d Bartolo wrote on social media. \u201cIt was all the cops, they broke down the door, arrested me, they took computers, laptops [and my] phone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a bit of a pain in the ass. They stole my shit. Whatever. I\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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 \u201ca trap\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the worst possible thing to do. It is a set-up from the get go. It is all just terrible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> was well below what organisers had hoped for.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nonetheless, footage from the Shrine of Remembrance on Saturday morning showed at least a few hundred protesters, many not wearing masks, chanting \u201cfreedom\u201d and hurling abuse at police and media.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

After mounted officers drove protesters from the Shrine of Remembrance, footage online showed streams of protesters marching to Albert Park.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once there, a large police contingent, including officers from the public order response team, surrounded small groups of protesters, arresting them one by one.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one small group, protesters, some holding QAnon signs, called for officers to \u201cstand with us\u201d and threatened to sue police because they were \u201cprotected by the Australian constitution\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Sydney\u2019s 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Byron Bay, in the state\u2019s north, eight people were arrested at an unauthorised anti-lockdown protest earlier on Saturday, with charges including assault of police officers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, labelled the protesters \u201cselfish\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not smart, it is not safe, it is not lawful, in fact it is absolutely selfish to be out there protesting,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only fight we should be engaged in is against this virus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Victoria police said the protests were \u201cdisappointing\u201d and were \u201cputting the lives of Victorians at risk\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

They said more than 150 infringement notices were issued. Fourteen of the arrests were for breaching the chief health officer\u2019s directions, while one was for allegedly assaulting police.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur investigations into this protest will continue, and we expect to issue further fines once the identity of individuals has been confirmed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian police crackdown on protest against coronavirus lockdown, vaccinations and 5G<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":213104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=213100"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213105,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213100\/revisions\/213105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/213104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=213100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=213100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=213100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}