Protesters have vowed another day of mayhem in Melbourne despite the city uniting in disgust over the desecration of the Shrine of Remembrance.
Frustrated police are fed-up, the construction union is vowing revenge and Melburnians have been united in disgust at the desecration yesterday of the hallowed Shrine of Remembrance.
Despite that, organisers of wild protests that have terrorised Melbourne since Monday are planning to take to the streets once again today.
The ragtag collection of groups includes tradies opposing mandatory covid vaccines and the two-week shutdown of the industry, anti-vaxxers, so-called ‘freedom’ defenders, lockdown opponents and conspiracy theorists.
And now, workers from other industries – including teachers and nurses – say they’ll join in.
Yesterday’s crowd was smaller than the thousands who unleashed chaos on the Victorian capital on Tuesday, but some 400 protesters brought the city to a standstill for several hours.
They gathered in the CBD and marched through the streets before making their way to the Shrine, occupying it until late in the afternoon, chanting, yelling, swearing and pelting police with projectiles.
Scenes of men drinking alcohol, smoking and screaming “Lest we forget”, and some even urinating on the walls of the Shrine, have horrified veterans’ groups.
In a furious statement, RSL Victoria said the Shrine should never be a place of protest “under any circumstances”.
“If any individuals or groups choose to express their political views, positions or ideological theories in the grounds of the shrine at any time, they are completely disrespecting the sanctity of this honoured space – those men and women of the Australian Defence Force who have lost their lives, and all Victorian veterans.”
Shrine of Remembrance chief executive officer Dean Lee was left “speechless” and “appalled” by the disrespectful behaviour, he said.
“I cannot comprehend the selfishness of people who have come to this sacred place and do this,” Mr Lee told reporters.
“It’s outrageous, reprehensible and it’s the most disgusting behaviour I could ever imagine here at the Shrine.”
MORE MAYHEM TO COME
Despite an increasingly heavy police presence, organisers of the protests have promised they won’t be scared away.
Melbourne is bracing for a fourth consecutive day of demonstrations today, with chat groups on the social media site Telegram confirming plans for more of the same on Thursday.
Individuals inside the online chat claiming to be nurses and teachers say they’ll join the group today and say they’re encouraging colleagues to do the same.
“Some of the nurses are going to turn up in scrubs,” one said.
It had been noted in the group that high-visibility workwear donned by protesters, including non-tradies, was becoming “vilified” and that a more “sophisticated” look is now needed.
“Everyone start turning up in suits, shirts/ties, dress shoes. Look smart, look sophisticated,” one said.
“So they can see how many different industries are standing up,” another added.
Throughout yesterday, the crowd spontaneously chanted “every day” in reference to their pledge to continue protesting until their demands are met.
Among them, a reversal of mandatory covid vaccines for construction sector workers and an end to the two-week closure of the industry imposed by Premier Daniel Andrews on Monday night.
The closure is in response to a spike of cases and widespread breaches of public health orders, the premier insisted, but was also widely seen as retaliation for Tuesday’s snap protest outside the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union headquarters.
Those demands and others, including the sacking of chief health officer Brett Sutton, are highly unlikely to be met.
PLAN TO TARGET VAX HUBS
A chat group operated by so-called ‘freedom defenders’ who’ve infiltrated and inflated the Melbourne protests has indicated broader tactics to cause mayhem are being considered.
Members have suggested demonstrations at state-run vaccination hubs today in order to slow down the delivery of covid jabs.
“You’re allowed to legally be there. Just stand in the massive line until the numbers are there,” one said.
Protesters should then start singing, dancing and “waking people up”, it was said, while one pointed out that simply queuing at vaccination hubs would slow things down.
TOP CONSTRUCTION ADVISOR QUITS
A top advisor to the Victorian Government has quit in protest over new public health orders for the building and construction sector, it’s been reported.
Peter Parkinson is the chair of the Building Industry Council, a senior Victorian Government role that provides advice to Treasurer Tim Pallas.
The Age newspaper reports Mr Parkinson resigned last week in frustration at a lack of consultation with the industry about new and controversial rules – including mandatory vaccines for tradies.
Relations between the state’s Health Department and key union and business groups had “disintegrated” in recent weeks, the outlet reports.
The Andrews Government has been criticised for its handling of the road map out of lockdown and towards a new ‘covid normal’.
ZERO TOLERANCE FROM POLICE
Victoria Police yesterday made more than 200 arrests after firing nonlethal projectile rounds at the mob gathered at the Shrine.
Many of them were slapped with hefty $5000 fines for breaching Covid-19 public health orders and a handful were charged with assault.
Some in the group hurled items at riot squad officers, including golf balls, batteries and bottles, according to reports.
Two police officers were injured and treated for head injuries, while a third was hospitalised with chest pain.
Deputy Commissioner Ross Guenther said there are fewer and fewer actual tradies in the crowd, which has been infiltrated and emboldened by outside forces.
“The group seem much more mixed in their motivation, which we are yet to establish,” Deputy Commissioner Guenther said.
“There are other small breakaway groups that see benefit in hijacking these things. We’ve seen that before.”
A task force has now been established to pour over hundreds of hours of footage from Melbourne’s vast network of CCTV cameras, as well as officers’ body cams, to identify individuals and hunt them down.
Police have vowed to charge and fine as many of them as possible.
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2021-09-22 23:02:00Z
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