Footage of a woman being pinned to the ground by Victoria Police has raised questions about the enforcement of lockdown restrictions, but it also appears to be gaining traction for the anti-mask movement.
In a post on Facebook, prominent anti-masker Inessa Zorkina shared a video of a friend who had been arrested in public.
“She was [standing] with a poster about Russian politics and they put her on the ground and wanted to arrest her,” she wrote.
“They hurt her a lot.”
She also shared photos of bruises allegedly caused by the police themselves.
Victoria Police confirmed the incident occurred at Hoppers Crossing last Saturday, when Melbourne was still only under Stage 3 restrictions. In the comments, people complained about police brutality and noted that restrictions are even stricter now.
Both the woman and her daughter behind the camera, who can be heard refusing to identify herself to police, were issued with $1,652 infringement notices.
PEDESTRIAN.TV was unable to reach the women in time for publication.
In a statement, Victoria Police told P.TV the women were warned about being in breach of the Chief Health Officer’s directions.
“After numerous attempts from police to have the females provide their details which was refused, they were both arrested,” a spokesperson said.
“One of the females resisted arrest, and had to be taken to ground during the incident.”
Zorkina, who posted the footage, is a prominent anti-masker and prolific poster on social media. She’s also a member of the coronavirus-denying Facebook group 99% Unite, which has had several posts taken down for spreading misinformation.
Last week, Zorkina was fined after having a go at supermarket workers over wearing a face mask. She later shared that footage to Facebook, too.
It’s unclear if the poster that the woman in the video held had anything to do with the pandemic or wearing a mask, but judging from the comments, plenty of people have already joined those two dots in their heads.
