More than 10,000 anti-vaxxer protestors known as the Convoy to Canberra wreaked havoc at Parliament House today. Three people were arrested, a Lifeline book fair was cancelled and one person seemingly spewed outside. A classy affair all in all.
ICYMI, since late January a group of anti-vaxxer protestors have been parked up in Canberra. They’ve been protesting vaccines and vaccine mandates.
The numbers of protestors have been growing steadily, with at least 10,000 rocking up today as per News.com.au.
According to News the protestors gathered on the lawn at Parliament House, where around 100 breached the barricades set up there. One person was arrested after breaching the barricade and two other people were arrested in the protest.
Pretty dramatic stuff. I love living in a dystopia.
However, it appears that one protestor decided the best way to voice their frustration about life-saving vaccines was to spew outside Parliament House.
A pic shared by the They’re Gunna Kill Us podcast seems to show a Chunder Crusader wrapped in an Australian flag having a spew outside Parliament House.
https://twitter.com/TheyreGunnaPod/status/1492389107670351874?s=20&t=U_A4di8SiqncNWT0hOmRSQ
Wow. Such a powerful political protest, embodying the great Australian tradition of being a complete embarrassment and then throwing up.
As well as seemingly taking a trip to spew city, the protestors also led to the cancellation of a Lifeline book fair which raises money for the crisis helpline.
Lifeline Canberra has made the decision to close the doors to the bookfair today, the situation at EPIC has changed overnight and Lifeline puts its patrons safety first and foremost.
We will keep you posted on our opening hours for tomorrow later this evening once we know more. pic.twitter.com/lVBBURWkxH— Lifeline Canberra (@Lifeline_ACT) February 11, 2022
According to The Canberra Times, volunteers and visitors at the book fair were subject to abuse from protestors on Friday. It was then cancelled on Saturday morning.
“Anyone who attended yesterday would realise there was a lot of abuse for the people who came in to the book fair. In terms of what happened overnight, you could see the situation deteriorated and you could see fences being pushed over,” Lifeline Canberra CEO Carrie Leeson told the publication.
Cool, so we’re protesting vaccines and shutting down a fundraising event for an important mental health service.
Priorities are definitely in order here!
PM Scott Morrison responded to the protestors today and instead of condemning them, he basically just waffled about the state governments. My expectations are so low and yet he still manages to disappoint me.
“My message to them [the protestors] today is Australia is a free country and they have a right to protest, and I would ask them to do that in a peaceful way and a respectful way,” Morrison said, as per the ABC.
“I’m going to be very clear when it comes to the issue of vaccine mandates: Commonwealth government has only ever supported mandates that relate to aged care workers, disability workers and those who are working in high-risk situations in the health system.
“The other mandates that have been put in place by state governments are decisions that they have taken, and they are the governments that they should be raising those issues with.”
Right, so instead of taking a stand against anti-vaxxers, Scotty instead decided to go in on the state governments.
Perhaps someone should fetch him a hose to clean up the spew outside Parliament House. It’s a great opportunity for a PR photoshoot!
