The bodybuilder conspiracy theorist behind a group pushing COVID-19 checkpoint breaches

A former soldier and bodybuilder, arrested by police while on the toilet today, is urging Aussies to fight back against coronavirus measures.

A man arrested in Melbourne this morning for his alleged role in planning a major anti-coronavirus protest is a former soldier turned bodybuilder who leads a bizarre conspiracy theory group.

James Bartolo claimed he “was on the toilet” when police arrived at his home armed with a search warrant on Friday morning.

He refused to open the door and let them inside, so police smashed it open and tackled him to the ground to restrain him.

Mr Bartolo, who runs a conspiracy website called The Conscious Truth Network, is the latest to be arrested over allegedly inciting an illegal anti-lockdown protest planned for Melbourne’s CBD on Saturday.

Mr Bartolo runs the organisation The Conscious Truth Network, which is encouraging Victorians in lockdown to deliberately breach COVID-19 public health orders, including by passing lockdown checkpoints illegally and attending mass gatherings.

The group Facebook page encourages followers to “unplug from the matrix” and free themselves from an apparent global conspiracy waged by corporations to enslave populations.

Eve Black, the Melbourne woman who sparked outrage after she filmed herself refusing to comply with police direction and driving through a checkpoint, is part of the group.

Mr Bartolo believes a “treasonous and corrupt network of filth” is behind a conspiracy to use the COVID-19 pandemic to strip rights away from people.

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James Bartolo says he’s a former Australian Army soldier and competitive bodybuilder.

James Bartolo regularly shares bizarre content about various conspiracies, including the belief that coronavirus is a ‘hoax’.

In July, he too shared vision of himself refusing to co-operate with authorities at a road checkpoint, arguing with a police officer for 20 minutes that his actions were unlawful.

Mr Bartolo said: “What’s the crime I’ve committed? If I haven’t committed a crime, then I’m going to go.”

Eventually, in apparent frustration, the officer permitted him to pass – a similar end result to that captured in Ms Black’s video.

She used similar language and was reading from a script on a piece of paper. The Conscious Truth Network is providing tips to its followers on how to challenge police at checkpoints.

Victoria has been battling a deadly second wave of coronavirus infections.

Greater Melbourne remains in stage 4 lockdown, while the rest of Victoria is subject to stage 3 restrictions, and Mr Bartolo is one of an emerging group of figures to resist public health measures.

His Facebook page has been promoting tomorrow's planned anti-lockdown protest at Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance, which thousands have indicated they will attend.

Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said on Thursday police had so far charged four people with incitement over Saturday’s planned protest, including pregnant Miners Rest woman Zoe Buhler, reality TV contestant turned conspiracist Fanos Panayides and 76-year-old Windsor man Solihin Millin twice.

Mr Cornelius said anyone who left home to protest would be fined and arrested if they failed to comply with police directions.

Those charged with incitement face court-imposed fines of up to $20,000.

Mr Bartolo started his group in May to coincide with an anti-lockdown rally held in Melbourne.

He is a former soldier in the Australian Army and a competitive bodybuilder who describes himself as a “truth seeker” and “freedom fighter”.

RELATED: Conspiracy theorist to be fined over ‘dumb’ roadblock stunt

Eve Black believes coronavirus is a hoax.

“I have always known there was something terribly wrong with the world and from a very young age was certain I would have an impact in fixing this broken planet,” Mr Bartolo writes on his website.

“My personal mission is to help wake people up and the together we can serve justice to the corrupt, twisted and sick individuals, corporations and entities who have caused such massive harm to the people of this world.

“After justice has been delivered, then we can focus on creating the world we are all happy to live in peacefully together.”

Content he shares covers everything from 5G conspiracies to his belief that the moon landing was faked and that COVID-19 is a “relabeled flu” that isn’t contagious or deadly.

❌❌WARNING❌❌ ⚠️⚠️MASSIVE TRIGGER ALERT⚠️⚠️ If you don't have an open mind, do not proceed. This...

Posted by James Bartolo on Sunday, 7 June 2020

In a June 7 video, an angry and ranting Mr Bartolo took aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison for instituting tough coronavirus restrictions “without consent of the population”.

He described Mr Morrison’s leadership as “a dictatorship” and accused the media of “deliberately manipulating the masses to spread and entice fear”.

“Forcing someone to do something they don’t want is raping their freedom,” Mr Bartolo said of the PM. “He is the furthest thing from a true leader.”

Of coronavirus, he said: “It has also been proven that this virus is not contagious. If it was, then by God there would be an extraordinarily higher amount of cases.”

To date, 26.2 million people globally have been infected with COVID-19 and some 867,000 have died.

But Mr Bartolo believes people have been “tricked and brainwashed” and urges his followers to follow their “gut” that the pandemic is a hoax.

In another video posted on June 4, he interviewed a man called Sheriff Jupie, who he identified as an 18-year-old electrician, “about he’s (sic) views on the pharmaceutical industry and their side effect ridden drugs”.

He has also boasted about repeatedly breaching lockdown restrictions in the first wave of infections by going out in public to attend rallies and interview people about coronavirus.

Other clips focus on 5G technology, “which apparently is only meant to speed up internet speeds … oh how I wish that was true”, claiming it can instead “create ongoing pandemics”.

Originally published as The bodybuilder conspiracy theorist behind a group pushing COVID-19 checkpoint breaches