Personnel from the Australian Defence Force and New South Wales Police ForceWales Police Force patrolling a street in the Melbourne suburb during an outbreak of coronavirus disease COVID-19 on August 3, 2021. ReUTERS Loren Elliott File Photo :
Wednesday, Sept 18 Reuters - Australia's police injured 235 people in Sydney and 32 in Melbourne on Saturday at unconstitutioned anti-lockdown rallies and several police officers arrested in clashes with protesters.
Six officers in Victoria police called for hospitalisation. Several officers were crushed to the ground and trampled, police said and television footage showed.
About 700 people managed to gather in parts of Melbourne as 2,000 police officers made the city centre virtually a no-go zone, setting up checkpoints and barricades. The public transport and ride share in the city were suspended.
In Sydney riot squad officers, highway patrol, detectives and general duties police were also deployed to the streets, preventing large gatherings.
Australia has been grappling with an outbreak of the late Delta variant of the coronavirus since mid-June, with both Sydney and Melbourne, and the capital Canberra locked in strict lockdowns for weeks now. On Saturday, there were 1,882 new coronavirus cases reported, most of them in Sydney.
Most restrictions in Victoria, New South Wales and Canberra have been instituted until at least 70% of those 16 and older are fully vaccinated, which can be completed in early October or early November depending on the current pace of inoculations.
A high rate of compliance with public health orders has helped Australia keep the number of infections relatively low, with only slightly less than 85,000 total cases and 1,145 deaths since the outbreak started.
The vast majority of Australians support vaccinations and public health measures, but there have been violent protests against the management of the pandemic.
It was absolutely disappointing to see another example of a small minority of the community showing a total disregard for the health and safety of not only police, but each and every other Victorian, Victoria Police said in a statement.