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MELBOURNE: Protesters against a COVID-19 shutdown challenged police at Australia’s hotspot on Saturday (September 5), prompting more than a dozen arrests, even as the state of Victoria continued its gradual improvement to stop new cases due to almost five weeks of restrictions.
Ignoring official warnings and public health orders, several hundred people gathered in an illegal protest, promoted by various online virus-related conspiracy theory groups, calling for an end to the blocking measures.
“It is not safe, it is not smart, it is not legal. In fact, it is absolutely selfish that people are protesting,” State Prime Minister Daniel Andrews said at a news conference.
Protesters in the state capital, Melbourne, demonstrated chants of “freedom” and “human rights issues”, surrounded by swarms of police.
A huge police presence responded and arrested 17 protesters as lines of officers repeatedly tried to push people forward.
READ: Australia’s Q2 GDP Shrinks at Record Rate As COVID-19 Pushes Country Into Recession
One of the arrests was for assaulting police, while others were arrested or fined for violating health restrictions, Victoria police said in a statement.
Two protesters were seen raising their arms in a Nazi salute to officers and shouting “Heil Dan”, comparing the condition of Victoria’s Prime Minister Andrews to Adolf Hitler, as they stood on the esplanade of the Shrine of Remembrance, a memorial of war that in part commemorates the dead Australians. fighting in World War II.
The protesters moved to a nearby park before being surrounded by police and finally dispersing.
Officers said they issued 160 fines for violating health orders and expected to distribute more in the coming days.
Several attendees told AFP they were protesting the government’s response to the pandemic, which has killed more than 865,000 people around the world, calling it exaggerated or a total “scam.”
“We are in a city where the Daniel Andrews cure is actually worse than what is happening,” protester Fiona Kat said.
The “Freedom Day” events were heavily promoted by various loosely connected online groups advocating conspiracy theories related to vaccination and viruses.
Demonstrations were also held across the country, with 14 people arrested in protests in Sydney and Byron Bay.
Victoria reported 76 new COVID-19 infections and 11 deaths on Saturday.
Andrews is due to outline plans Sunday to ease Melbourne’s Stage 4 restrictions, which shut down much of the economy, required everyone to stay home except for essential business and imposed a night curfew.
There were two demonstrations in Sydney and one in Byron Bay in the state of New South Wales, which also violated local restrictions against large gatherings.
Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne on September 5, 2020 (Photo: AFP / William West)
Outside of Victoria, Australia reported five new coronavirus infections in New South Wales, one in Queensland and one in South Australia.
In the past two months, infections in the country have more than tripled to 26,207, with Victoria accounting for about 75 percent of the total.
Australia’s deaths from COVID-19 increased during that period from 104 to 748, with Victoria accounting for 90 percent.
“These stark figures show us the serious impact of the second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria,” Australia’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd told reporters.
Victoria’s new cases were below 100 most days this week, compared with a peak of 725 new infections on Aug.5, but are still higher than health officials expected five weeks after a hard six week block.
“The tail of the second wave is kind of stubborn,” Andrews said.
Australia’s government and businesses have urged Victoria, which makes up about a quarter of the country’s economy, to lift restrictions as the country has plunged into its first recession since 1991.
Andrews said he would take a “firm and safe” approach to getting out of lockdown.
“This is a health problem in the first instance and until the health problem is solved, there can be no economic repair,” he said.
In neighboring New Zealand, a former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, Joseph Williams, died of COVID-19.
His was the second coronavirus-related death in the country in two days, following an outbreak in the country’s largest city, Auckland, bringing the country’s total to 24 deaths.
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