They came, they protested, they chanted and sang (mostly Waltzing Matilda).
Organisers said there were 100,000 attending the Freedom March in Sydney on Saturday. Police, who kept an eye on things with a modest uniformed presence, a few mounted police - both horses and cycles - and a helicopter hovering overhead, said it was more like 10,000. There were no arrests.
Craig Kelly arrives to address the crowd at the protest. Credit:Steven Siewert
Similar anti-government “freedom” protests were held across the country, with the largest turnout in Melbourne, where tens of thousands railed against COVID-19 vaccines, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his government’s now-stalled controversial pandemic bill.
In Sydney, it was all about freedom not to vaccinate. The police wore masks, the crowd didn’t.
There were plenty of placards including “My body, my choice”, “My daughter is ill with vaccine reaction” and “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand Matt 4:17”.
After a bit of a vocal warm-up in Hyde Park next to the fountain, the crowd set off down Market Street, led by the Governor Macquarie memorial pipe band and two police superintendents. One marcher, who gave his name as Robert and dressed as Braveheart said: “I’m marching for freedom. The freedom that has been stolen by evil people.”
Protester dressed as a character from the movie Braveheart at the Sydney rallyCredit:Steven Siewert
They walked past David Jones and Louis Vuitton with scarcely a glance to the Christmas windows before arriving at a pop-up stage opposite Parliament House. A poster stating: “Sack Scomo - Make Australia Great Again” was held up for all to see. They also wanted to sack Health Minister Brad Hazzard and a few premiers as well.
Riccardo Bosi was the support act. He is a former special forces officer who when charged with breaching South Australian COVID-19 rules called an Adelaide magistrate an “imbecile” and a “traitor” during his hearing.
“We need to bring this country to a standstill,” he told the crowd. “We need to down tools from this moment on. From now on, this country is on strike until these bastards get out of our lives.”
Finally, came the main act, former Liberal MP Craig Kelly who plans to stand as a candidate for Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party. “Kelly, Kelly, Kelly” the crowd roared.
Thousands marched in the streets as part of the “freedom” rally. Credit:Steven Siewert
Mr Kelly said freedom had come from the sacrifice of past generations and yelled unsubstantiated claims about “experimental vaccines” and blamed the Prime Minister for vaccine requirements.
Mr Kelly said countries that adopt vaccine passports are no longer free.
“We don’t live in a free society, we live in a prison camp,” he said.
“On my watch, I am not going to stand by and let this happen and neither are you guys. We have got to protect our kids, that’s our first priority.”
Central Metropolitan Region Commander Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said, overall, police were pleased with crowd behaviour and the majority of attendees conducted a peaceful protest.
Some 600 officers were deployed, he said.
“Overall, the protests were conducted peacefully with minimal disruption to the community, and I’m pleased to see that the vast majority of people complied with police directions.”
There was talk from the stage of doing it all again next weekend.
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2021-11-20 07:21:05Z
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