Australia COVID LIVE updates NSW records 825 new local COVID-19 cases three deaths Sydney anti-lockdown protest planned to go ahead Victoria to enter statewide lockdown after 61 new cases

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Here’s some live vision of the anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne, where there have also been arrests.

A large congregation of protestors moved fast down Russell Street in the CBD, flanked for a time by police mounted on horses.

Flares have been let off and the crowd is screaming “freedom”. Most of the crowd aren’t wearing masks and loud music is playing. There are a few children among the strong crowd with their families.

Another smaller crowd of protestors then joined the huge crowd on Russell Street. As they appeared up the road, some protestors ran to one another.

Police officers are on the side of the pack, with protestors urging them “stand with us, do it for your kids”. Some women are pushing their small children in prams in the protest pack. One protestor holding a sign just helped a lady take her pram down a couple of stairs next to the tram line.

The protestors are heading up Bourke Street, with police officers seen lining the steps of Parliament House ahead.

Our reporter on the ground, Cassandra Morgan, described the scenes outside Parliament House not long ago.

Here’s the footage of what happened where police initially repel the protesters before a renewed push that saw people rushing through past mounted officer.

Protestors have managed to make it into central Sydney for an anti-lockdown rally, where a large number of waiting police have made arrests.

Protestors attempting to congregate at Victoria Park have clashed with police, who are issuing fines and charging people for breaching public health orders.

Arrests at Victoria Park.Credit:Nick Moir

A massive police operation involving over 1400 officers across the city appears to have stopped a large number of people and turning it into the large event organisers had hoped for.

Protestors in the city were heard chanting against the COVID-19 lockdown and repeating anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.

“I would die before I’d take it,” one attendee was overheard saying of coronavirus immunisation.

A man is pinned to the ground by police.Credit:Nick Moir

Another criticised the “police state” and questioned the legitimacy of public health orders.

“This is against our very fundamental laws and constitution,” the woman said.

One protestor yelled “protect your children from tyranny” as she was arrested.

A man in an Australia flag hat is arrested.Credit:Nick Moir

Police told attendees they were allowed to protest government policy but not in person and en masse during strict public health orders.

A police helicopter was hovering above Victoria Park where mounted units and riot police prevented people from gathering together in the park, repelling them at surrounding streets.

Protestors in the Melbourne anti-lockdown demonstration stopped at Parliament because they were flanked on either side of the road by police.

Things kicked off, and officers were spraying people left, right and centre. Several managed to break through before police re-formed a line.

Arrests at the Melbourne protest.Credit:Nine News

Now, the protestors who broke free are waiting on the other side for the rest. This journalist was told to get out of the area where the bulk of the protestors are.

Things are still tense as protestors don’t seem to know whether to stay or go.

The anti-lockdown protest in Sydney has kicked off despite a large police presence.

Police are corralling demonstrators onto a footpath on Broadway and picking them off one by one to be arrested as they march and chant.

Vision taken by ABC reporter Josh Bavas shows officers from the Public Order and Riot Squad telling a man: “At this stage you’re under arrest for breaching the Public Health Order”.

Meanwhile, The Age’s Cassie Morgan is on Lonsdale Street in Melbourne, where demonstrators are letting off flares.

Victoria’s COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said that the clusters that are now appearing across Victoria were infected some time ago.

“What’s happened in the last three or four days is we’ve seen a number of those big acceleration events take place,” he said.

“So we suddenly have 17 cases in Shepparton that were seeded over a week ago...we do not know the source at this point.”

Mr Weimar said the virus was now running widely across the community in Melbourne.

“It is popping up in just about every suburb, and just about every LGA,” he said.

Mr Weimar also said the focus had changed from identifying the links between cases and just making sure all infectious people were isolated.

“The urgency now is stopping the virus in its tracks,” he said.
However he also that contact tracers had not lost control of the outbreak.

The ACT has recorded 8 new local cases of coronavirus.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said all of the new cases were linked and none were in the community while infectious.

This is the lockdown working but we are however starting to see exposure sites post the start of the lockdown.

This is a general warning to the community to please be careful when you are outside your home.

The lockdown has significantly reduced the risk around new exposure sites but there will still be some.

Police have launched a “significant operation” to quell a planned protest in Sydney’s CBD, with attendees warned they will be intercepted by police, turned around and fined.

The protest is planned for Victoria Park at midday, however police launched a road block operation at 9am on main arterial roads into the city. Motorists, cyclists and bus passengers are being stopped and asked their purpose for travelling into the city.

The police road block on Enmore Road.Credit:Brook Mitchell

Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys says the response is a significant one, and clear messaging has been sent out over the past few days that the protest is not an authorised gathering.

“Work has gone in around preparing people not to come into the city, but if they choose to do so, they will be met by police and turned around. If need be, they will be issued infringement notices,” Mr Worboys said.

He said 681 penalty infringement notices were issued around the state in the last 24 hours, as well as more than 50 court attendance notices and on-the-spot fines.

Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys speaks on Saturday.Credit:James Brickwood

More than 400 of the penalties were for people being outside their homes without a reasonable excuse, including some who moved out of their local government area to have a celebration or party.

“These people are moving around in contravention to the public health orders. They are being dobbed in by neighbours and people who know these events are occurring,” Mr Worboys said.

“One of the events was at St George, another at Sutherland, another in the Hills District and one at Golden Beach at Tweed Heads.”

Mr Worboys said there are some people in NSW who “either don’t care, or are quite happy to be in this arrangement for however long”.

“Every single person has a part to play,” he said. “The message is quite simple: unless you have that reasonable excuse, stay at home.”

Childcare is restricted to essential workers and vulnerable children in Victoria from Monday. Some readers might be wondering if it applies to kinder or other forms of early education.

Premier Daniel Andrews was asked about this and said it was the same settings as last year’s second lockdown.

Authorised workers, you’ll need a permit. It’s not a matter of having an argument with your childcare provider - you’ll either be eligible or you won’t and you’ll have to attest to that,” he said.

We know that that this will not be easy, we know that will be very challenging. And in advance we thank parents for that extra effort.

I would just say as well: no parent wants their child to get this, and we do see significant activity and transmission around childcare centres.

Premier Daniel Andrews has defended the timing of regional Victoria’s lockdown with wastewater tests showing that COVID-19 fragments were detected in Shepparton a week ago.

“We don’t lock places down off sewage, right off a ping of a test, we need positive cases,” he said.

Mr Andrews also said he didn’t believe in locking down just one part of regional Victoria and leaving the rest open.

“When you already know that there’s been movement to other parts of regional Victoria, then the notion of trying to dividing regional Victoria up into different different sectors. That doesn’t work,” he said.

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