Kylie Lang: Why you’re right to be furious about rally double standards

As they chanted “f--- the pigs” through mostly unmasked faces, protesters at the Black Lives Matter rally in Brisbane couldn’t have cared less about a second wave of coronavirus, and made a mockery of Queensland’s excellent work in mitigating the spread of the virus, writes Kylie Lang.

SHOULDER to shoulder they stood, about 30,000 of them, putting all lives at risk as they protested to save black ones.

Brisbane’s King George Square looked like cluster central yesterday as a swelling crowd defied COVID-19 social distancing and demanded an end to police brutality against people of colour.

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Chanting “f--- the pigs” through mostly unmasked faces, they couldn’t have cared less about a second wave, and made a mockery of Queensland’s excellent work in mitigating the spread of the virus.

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I understand the reasons for the protest – the death of George Floyd is not uniquely American; racial profiling is rife and equally unacceptable here – but the rally should have been shut down.

Instead, a limp Palaszczuk Government let it proceed, the Premier saying beforehand that she “hoped people would respect the health advice”. Ha!

Not even Assistant Commissioner Brian Codd took a hard line, declaring there would be no mass arrests because it wasn’t “practical”.

Queenslanders are right to be furious about such double standards.

We can’t have gatherings of more than 20 people in our own homes, in restaurants, parks, gyms or galleries – and the Premier refuses to open the borders to bring tourism and other businesses back from the brink – but converging in the tens of thousands in front of City Hall? Not a problem.

Tens of thousands of people march in Brisbane on Saturday as part of a Black Lives Matter protest. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

Meanwhile, Queensland Health is scrambling to trace the contacts of a lone Victorian who flew into Brisbane on Monday and on to Bundaberg after testing positive for COVID-19.

After yesterday’s debacle, that might be the least of the Government’s worries.