Hundreds of protestors have stormed Melbourne‘s CBD to rally against the looming five-day lockdown coming into force across Victoria from midnight.
Premier Daniel Andrews on Thursday said Victoria had ‘no choice’ but to enter a snap statewide lockdown to contain a growing outbreak of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
The decision came after the state recorded two new cases, bringing its cluster to 18, which was sparked when NSW‘s outbreak was imported into Melbourne by a Sydney removalist working interstate.
But hundreds of angry residents did not agree with the premier, demanding he be sacked for plunging the state into its fifth lockdown since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Hundreds of protestors swarmed Melbourne’s CBD on Thursday to rally against Victoria’s fifth lockdown, coming into effect from midnight
Angry residents packed together as they chanted and held up signs, with some spouting claims the pandemic was not real
One man, carrying a sign suggesting the pandemic was not real, wore a shirt with a slogan urging Australians to avoid the Covid vaccine
Despite the wet weather, Victorians poured into Flinders Street holding up signs calling for freedom, with some reading ‘lockdown kills’ and ‘I have a choice’.
Organisers leading the procession held a huge blue banner with the name of an anti-lockdown website scrawled across it, as they roused fellow protestors through a megaphone.
The lockdown objectors chanted as they marched through the streets, just hours before stay-at-home orders will be rolled out across the state.
Face masks were noticeably absent among the crowd, only visible on the police officers standing guard to monitor the demonstration.
This is despite face masks being mandatory indoors and outdoors when unable to socially distance since 11.59pm on Wednesday.
Some signs appeared to espouse anti-vax sentiments while others suggested the pandemic was not real, with slogans such as ‘government lies’ and ‘a real pandemic needs no advertisement’.
Victorians braved the wet weather as they into Melbourne’s CBD on Thursday night for a ‘freedom rally’ against the premier’s latest Coronavirus measures
The demonstrators, who have titled their community the Melbourne Freedom Rally, have five main objectives they are striving to achieve through their protest, according to their website.
They include an end to Covid restrictions, an investigation into the handling of the coronavirus response, Mr Andrews’ resignation, no vaccine mandates, and full refunds for those who have been fined for breaching coronavirus-related directives.
Instead of restrictions, they recommend the state adopt Sweden’s controversial Covid strategy, where the virus was allowed to run rampant within the community without lockdowns, with ‘voluntary protective measures’ for those who are vulnerable.
They are also seeking a ‘Pandemic Royal Commission’ to ‘find any evidence of criminal activity, conflicts of interest, corruption, and incompetence in the government and medical system’ and have all doctors who ‘knowingly falsified death certificates’ to wrongly include Covid charged with fraud.
‘Daniel Andrews must resign as the Premier of Victoria, and nominate a successor that will enact all other demands,’ the website reads.
‘[He] must be held accountable for the Crimes against Humanity he has committed upon the Victorian People.’
Face masks were noticeably absent from the sea of faces marching through Melbourne on Thursday night
Article Source: Covid Australia: Anti-lockdown protestors storm Melbourne in the eve of Victoria’s five-day lockdown | Daily Mail Online