Protesters are seen at the Shrine of Remembrance as Victorian Police patrol the area in Melbourne today. Photo / Getty Images
Police have moved in and arrested dozens of protesters who massed at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance this afternoon.
The action has come on the third consecutive day of action by anti-lockdown protesters that has already seen a union building trashed and motorists on the city's road network surrounded.
This afternoon hundreds of protesters stationed themselves at the city's war memorial, angering war veterans and prompting a major response from Victoria Police.
Officers steadily penned protesters closer to the shrine. At about 5pm police began arresting several of the people taking part in the action, including reportedly some of the ringleaders.
"Just 10 minutes ago hundreds of people were standing there and now you can see that they have pretty much moved on that entire crowd," said ABC presenter Patricia Karvelas.
"[Police] have made that determination to move in, they have now made scores of arrests."
Terrorism expert Professor Greg Barton from Deakin University described the gathering at the Shrine a "really worrying development" with potentially "really dangerous" consequences.
"The biggest danger is of lone actors doing something that will make them a hero in their view and perhaps hurting people. But short of that, just a slow increase of temperature is damaging our society," Barton told ABC News.
Earlier in the day, crowds of anti-lockdown protesters, some numbering in the hundreds, gathered in Melbourne's CBD. They encountered a stronger police presence than yesterday, including mounted officers, members of the riot squad, armoured vehicles and helicopter patrols.
Within minutes, multiple arrests were made in the vicinity of the CFMEU building on Elizabeth St.
Groups of demonstrators then marched through Melbourne's streets, occasionally joining together and then dispersing in an apparent attempt to avoid the attention of law enforcement. They initially moved east from Flagstaff Gardens towards the State Library and Carlton Gardens before marching down Flinders St.
There were scattered, small-scale incidents, such as flares being lit at the Queen Victoria Market. Some arrested protesters were pepper-sprayed. Police appeared to fire rubber bullets to disperse a group in Carlton Gardens.
The Battle of Carlton Gardens. pic.twitter.com/UUK8OUdiMf
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In the early afternoon, the largest group moved south of the Yarra River towards the Shrine of Remembrance, which was initially built to commemorate those who fought in World War I. It has since become a memorial to all Australian war veterans.
On their way there, some of the protesters chanted "lest we forget".
After arriving, they took up positions on the memorial's steps, where they were surrounded by police.
Some members of the crowd chanted "every day", alluding to their vow to keep marching every day until their demands are met. At another point they chanted "we want peace".
Victorian riot police began closing in on the crowd later in the afternoon, but protesters, broadly described as "disrespectful" for gathering at the venue, remained firm in their stance.
Big cheers in Southbank as one of the rioters are caught. People yelling off their balconies to aid police and pointing where rioters are running/hiding. “Go the coppers” chants ring out as more are arrested @abcnews pic.twitter.com/dxV0PsFueU
— Corbin Middlemas (@CorbinMiddlemas) September 22, 2021
The choice of venue has sparked a backlash from some veteran groups.
RSL Victoria said converging on the Shrine of Remembrance was blatantly disrespectful to Australian Defence Force members and veterans.
"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 time-honoured space," the group said, ABC News reported.
The Hawthorn RSL Sub Branch said "the Shrine of Remembrance is not a place of protest".
"It is a sacred place for Australians to commemorate those who fought and died for us," it said.
"It is a sacred place for Australians to commemorate those who fought and died for us. We gather there to remember with respect and dignity, and it is not appropriate to use this hallowed location for any protest.
"We condemn the use of the Shrine of Remembrance by protesters today, and on any day."
A no-fly zone has also been imposed by Victoria Police, banning media helicopters from broadcasting aerial footage of the protest.
"Victoria Police made an application to CASA for restricted air space in the Melbourne CBD, due to operational and safety reasons in relation to the protest activity. We understand the concerns from the media about this decision," a police statement read.
"We are looking to find alternate options that would meet the needs of both Victoria Police and the media. An update will be provided as soon as possible."
At a media conference alongside Premier Daniel Daniel Andrews this morning, Victoria Police Commissioner Shane Patton lamented the "significant unrest" Melbourne had already suffered and revealed 62 people had been arrested in connection with Tuesday's events.
"I certainly understand that people are fatigued. They're tired. They have got grievances and they're frustrated. But now is not the time for protest," Patton said.
"The chief health officer is still determined that there are guidelines in place that prohibit mass gatherings, large gatherings. The risk of the spread of the coronavirus is quite real in those gatherings.
"We don't get to pick and choose which laws we enforce. I'd simply say this. I would implore, I'd plead, I'd ask - any other word I can use - to say to people who are contemplating coming in here today to protest, to not do so.
"You're not going to be welcomed with open arms, I can assure you of that. We have significant tactics in place. We will be agile in our response, we will be very swift in our response, and conduct as we have seen yesterday will not be tolerated."
Patton declined to specify which new tactics, exactly, police would deploy, or how many police would be involved, though he described their planned presence as "significant".
"I do not want to be giving any context whatsoever to anybody who may be considering coming in here to engage in unlawful activity," he said.
"I'm not going to talk about the tactics we'll deploy today, but I'd be very surprised if you see any cat and mouse games today."
He repeated his plea for protesters to ditch any plan to come into central Melbourne again.
"We will take all actions that we can to stop this. I would really ask people not to come in," said Patton.
"We have a range of crowd control equipment that we have already deployed, and I have instructed my police command that if it's necessary to use it, then they are to use it.
"We will of course factor in the safety of all individuals, because that's what we're about, but the reality is this protest can't be allowed to occur again."
Andrews, meanwhile, warned protesters it would be "unwise" to "test the resolve" of police.
"The ugly scenes that we saw yesterday are not only appalling, they're unlawful. Victoria Police will take action against those who did the wrong thing," the Premier said.
"What we saw yesterday is an insult, an insult, to the vast majority of tradies and people in the building industry who are not about wrecking, they're about building.
"Why is vaccination compulsory in the construction industry? Well, today there are more Covid cases in construction than there are in aged care. More cases in construction than there are patients with Covid in hospital across the whole hospital system.
"This sort of behaviour puts everything at risk. This sort of behaviour is unlawful, it's ugly, and it will not be tolerated.
"Unless we took this action, and unless we see compliance higher, then we'll continue to see the spread of this virus. And that puts everything at risk."
Speaking to Sunrise earlier his morning, Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent described Tuesday as "a dark day for Melbourne". He said police respected the right of citizens to protest, but "not during a pandemic".
"It's actually illegal at the moment and contributing to the risk of spreading the virus," Nugent said.
"Today, we'll be out again. We'll be out with as many police as we can get, and looking at using various operational tactics."
Asked about the composition of the crowd, he said some were genuine tradies, but others were agitators looking to commit acts of violence.
"The protesters are a mix of people. Some of them, clearly, are there purely to hide in a mob and commit violence. It is quite clear that they are not there to protest peacefully. They are there to have a go at police, to assault police," he said.
"Others have legitimate reasons for being there, but you can see clearly that the aggression of the people is something we haven't dealt with for a while.
"There were certainly some CFMEU members present, but there were certainly a lot of others that joined in. There were these so-called 'Freedom Rally' protesters that joined in. A lot of people just used this as a cover to come down and act aggressively."
"It was really disappointing and it was a really dark day for Melbourne"@VictoriaPolice Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent says officers will be out again in force to prevent a third day of "disturbing" anti-vaccination protests. pic.twitter.com/0W8AeVEiUq
— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) September 21, 2021
John Setka, head of the CFMEU, has claimed a significant proportion of the crowd were not construction workers.
Setka tried to calm the mob outside his union's headquarters on Monday before retreating inside when the violence started.
"There's not much we can do. You can't reason with some of these people," Setka said this morning.
"I mean, I just got drowned out by some of these other morons. I don't even know who they are. They're not even from our industry, some of them.
"Some of them are anti-vaxxers. There are some of our members there. Thankfully there's not that many.
"Thanks to these people, our industry are now shut for two weeks. We have done everything in our power to keep this industry going, just seeing what happened on Monday is pretty disappointing."
During his media conference, Patton said the mob had included "people from the construction industry", but also "a range of other people", including some who had donned high-visibility gear and workwear to blend in with the crowd.
Despite the significant outbreaks in the construction sector, Setka insisted his union was "abiding by the rules" regarding Covid.
"Our industry's a massive industry. We can't control what happens on some of the smaller sites," he said.
"We are a pro-vax. We've run radio ads encouraging our members to get vaccinated. If you've got a concern over it, go see your GP, go get some proper advice. Don't follow the internet and all the mistruths that are spread about it.
"At the same time you've got to respect the right of individuals who've actually got a genuine fear about it.
"We can't just unilaterally say we don't care what your fears are, you have to get the jab."
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