It turns out a whole bunch of people in Sydney were pretty fucken livid about the unauthorised anti-lockdown protest that took place on Saturday which went against all the prevailing health advice and, well, common sense.
As many as 15,000 people are believed to have marched between Victoria Park and Town Hall. Unlike previous protests, this demo had more COVID conspiracy t-shirts than face masks in the crowd, and there were no marshals handing out sanitiser or enforcing social distancing.
“We have received 10,000 Crime Stoppers reports since Saturday in terms of criminal behaviour and breaches of the health order at the protest which is an amazing outcry by the community,” NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said at the daily press conference on Monday morning.
He said this mass community reaction reflected people’s “disgust at the protest”.
“We have a Strike Force established, and they will continue to investigate and chase down every individual that we can identify who will be either arrested and/or given tickets for their behaviour. And it is not just about whether it is an unauthorised protest, it was about the danger that they put all of us at in terms of the Delta variant,” Fuller added.
Fuller was keen to note that cops are preparing to quash any future unauthorised anti-lockdown protests, including one proposed in Sydney for this weekend.
“There are some discussions, there is information on the Internet at the moment about a potential protest this Saturday,” he said.
“Can I just put this warning out now to everyone: We will be heavily policing that event. We will take the ground very early. You will be arrested and prosecuted. The community has spoken about that behaviour.”
Nobody likes a snitch, but sometimes exceptions can be made for the sake of public health.
