Crying for “freedom, freedom”, thousands of people took to the streets in major Australian cities to protest against the new lockdown anti-Covid imposed in recent days, while the number of new cases due to Delta variant it is increasing throughout the country, which had instead emerged almost unscathed from the first wave. Unauthorized demonstrations, sometimes even violent, took place a Sidney, Melbourne and also to Brisbane, which is not even subjected to forced closure.
In Sidney, in particular, the demonstrators, about 15,000 according to some estimates, almost all without a mask, clashed with the police in force, throwing plastic bottles and other objects; even flower pots against the agents, who also intervened on horseback. At least 57 people ended up in handcuffs and over 100 were fined.
The New South Wales Minister of Police, David Elliott, who called the demonstration a “super diffuser” event, announced that a special team has been created that will view footage from surveillance cameras to identify demonstrators. “I will be very, very surprised if next week we don’t see a spike in infections in the areas these protesters come from,” he said. “I am absolutely disgusted by the demonstrators who have illegally taken to the streets today, whose selfish actions have compromised the safety of all of us,” said the premier of the state of New South Wales in a statement. Gladys Berejiklian.
In Melbourne, where restrictions could last until October, thousands of protesters gathered in front of the state parliament, holding up banners saying “This is not a virus, this is about total government control over people”, or “I’m afraid plus the government of the Covid-19“. At least six people were arrested.
The organizers had called the protesters to gather using social networks, advertising the protests even on sites often used to spread theories no-vax. Under current public health rules, people who do not belong to the same household cannot gather in groups of more than two outside.
Since the start of the pandemic, Australia, 25 million inhabitants, he recorded over 32,500 almost and 916 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, but only 12.55 percent of the population vaccinated.
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