Photo from last August: Australian troops accompany police patrols in the streets of Melbourne, Australia<\/p>\n
Authorities in Sydney<\/a>, which is witnessing its highest number of Covid-19<\/a> cases since the pandemic began last year, will deploy troops to enforce the lockdown.<\/p>\n New South Wales (NSW) police commissioner Mick Fuller said that from Monday some 300 Australian army personnel will begin unarmed patrols to ensure people who have tested positive for the virus are isolating.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sheer volume of increase over the last week (means) the level of compliance (enforcement) has gone from hundreds into thousands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The move means that the military<\/a> and police presence would cover the breadth of Australia<\/a>\u2019s largest city, but will be concentrated on eight local government districts in the city\u2019s west \u2013 home to two million people \u2013 where most new cases have been reported.<\/p>\n The surge in cases, driven by the Delta<\/a> variant, has resulted in the city of five million people being ordered to stay home. The authorities want tighter restrictions for the worst-affected suburbs, including mandatory testing and mask-wearing outdoors.<\/p>\n Last weekend there were demonstrations against lockdowns in several Australian cities, including Sydney, where protests turned violent, and there were more than 50 arrests.<\/p>\n Mehreen Faruqi, Greens senator for NSW, denounced the decision to deploy troops, claiming it had \u201cstirred up all my terrifying memories of growing up mostly under a militarised political regime in Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThere were check points, armed soldiers on the roads, neighbourhood patrols and people under house arrest. Anyone could be stopped at any time, targeted and imprisoned. People were surveilled and nationalism entrenched. This was scary, scary stuff and I\u2019ve never been able to fully shake the fear it fomented of the army and police,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Creating fear and threatening people when they are already vulnerable is cruel and has nothing to do with public health. What people need is support and reassurance, not fear and surveillance.<\/p>\n — Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) July 30, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n