There Were Coronavirus Lockdown Protests Over The Weekend, And They Were Very Stupid
"It was pretty interesting when I was trying to say that part out of Revelations about the microchip is when (police) came and grabbed me."
More than 100 people ignored strict social distancing laws to embarrass themselves protest at Victoria’s parliament house over the weekend, complaining they’re being oppressed by lockdown laws put in place to save people’s lives during the pandemic.
The protest was, not at all surprisingly, promoted on a bunch of Facebook groups linked to QAnon and anti-vax conspiracy theories.
They’ve been pushing the idea that the COVID-19 pandemic — that has killed more than 282,000 people worldwide — is a hoax, 5G is to blame, and Bill Gates (who has donated millions towards vaccine development) should be arrested.
The crowd has broken into chants of "arrest Bill Gates" at the anti-lockdown protest at Parliament House in Melbourne @theage. The crowd has grown considerably since midday. pic.twitter.com/T13u3s7Ld7
— Rachael Dexter (@rachael_dexter) May 10, 2020
Are you wondering why they are protesting at Parliament House in Melbourne today?
Here’s an example of the protest signs:#auspol #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/LXNKW6dBk2
— Joel (@thejotho) May 10, 2020
Here is the sign in the crowd: pic.twitter.com/gpWC9psQAp
— Joel (@thejotho) May 10, 2020
Ten people were arrested at the Melbourne rally — three for assaulting a police officer, another for “discharging a missile” after allegedly throwing a bottle at police, and the rest for failing to comply with a public health order.
One police officer was hospitalised with a rib injury.
Police have said they will be reviewing footage and issuing fines to other participants.
“Once police made arrests, the crowd started to disperse. Police are continuing to investigate the events of today in order to identify other people who were in attendance. Once individuals are identified, we will be issuing them with fines and will consider any other enforcement options,” a police spokesperson said.
While the protests have gotten a fair bit of attention it’s important to put this into context — in reality they were very poorly attended by a bunch of people with fringe ideas that are only getting attention because they’re so batshit-insane.
This Guardian article about the stupid weekend protest at Parliament House is hilarious pic.twitter.com/MwEXw1blyV
— David Rayfield (@RaygunBrown) May 11, 2020
One of the rally organisers, Fanos Panayides, posted a video after being arrested while speaking to the crowd and looking for a Bible verse to quote.
“Because I didn’t fight back the police were quite respectful in terms of not causing me any harm. I didn’t give them any reasons to detain me other than being guilty of a summary offence,” he said.
“Yeah, it was pretty interesting when I was trying to say that part out of Revelations about the microchip is when they came and grabbed me.”
Another dozen people also protested in Sydney, which made headlines after police arrested a women who had taken her four-year-old son to the protest. The woman was wearing a sign which said: “if you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any. Magna Carta”.
In case you’re a bit fuzzy on your history, the Magna Carta is an 800-year-old English document which established people’s right to justice — but also established that everyone is subject to the rule of law.
After refusing to move on or provide her name to police the woman was arrested and fined.
Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said there was a lot of “very silly misinformation out there,” and people should be held accountable for breaking social distancing rules.
Similarly, Victoria Police said while they respect the right to protest, people’s health and safety should be the number one priority at the moment.
Feature Image: Twitter/ @thejotho