Coronavirus NSW: Arrests, fines at ‘Freedom Day’ anti-lockdown protests
Police faced off with hundreds of ‘Freedom Day’ protesters across Sydney and Byron Bay on Saturday, which led to 14 people being arrested and 81 fined for COVID breaches. The rallies were endorsed by anti-vax celebrity Pete Evans and controversial boxer Anthony Mundine. MORE COVID-19 UPDATES
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A total of 14 people were arrested, with 81 fines issued after unauthorised ‘Freedom Day’ protests in the Sydney CBD, Olympic Park and Byron Bay on Saturday.
Hundreds of conspiracy theorists gathered at Hyde Park for ‘Freedom Day’ on Saturday, which was endorsed by anti-vax celebrity Pete Evans and controversial boxing champ Anthony Mundine.
Mundine told The Sunday Telegraph on Saturday he supported the anti-lockdown movement and COVID-19 was a sham.
“I support people coming together and standing up against injustice. It’s a dictatorship. A tyrannical reign,” he said.
“COVID is just a symptom of 5G radiation – it’s a cover up.”
Protesters posed for photos with Mundine.
NSW Police Detective Inspector Gary Coffey used a loudspeaker to warn protesters to move on, before arrests were made.
Three people were arrested at the Hyde Park protest and will front court in the coming months while charges are expected for others.
Seven men and two women were arrested at parks in Byron Bay, one of whom police will allege assaulted a senior constable.
Charges are expected to be laid against the group, police say.
The 81 $1000 fines were issued for breaching COVID gathering restrictions.
Gatherings of more than 19 people are in breach of coronavirus restrictions in NSW.
One protester held a sign with the words: ‘End the lockdown, open our borders, coronavirus is over.’
Protester Sam Hansen, 26, was one of the people arrested during the protest. He fell limp while a handful of officers were trying to walk him to the police car.
Protesters clapped as he was taken away in a sign of support.
Earlier Hansen told The Sunday Telegraph: “I’m here because I believe in freedom. I don’t like the lockdown laws. I think the entire COVID cyborg is a massive scam.”
Tensions were high at the second protest at Sydney Olympic Park in Homebush at 2pm.
Protesters sang the Australian National Anthem together and chanted “freedom” and “we love Australia”.
People were moved on by police in droves.
One woman said she was a “child of god” before being taken away.
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COVID CASES AT NEWTOWN BAR, GYMS, MEDICAL CENTRE
A popular watering hole in Newtown and two busy gyms in the eastern suburbs are the latest venues that NSW Health are warning the public were visited by confirmed cases of COVID-19 this week.
NSW Health has also asked anyone who attended the Hyde Park Medical Centre on August 24 to monitor for symptoms after two confirmed cases visited the facility.
The warning extends to all patients and staff from the physiotherapy, dermatology, dental practice and pharmacy on the ground floor of the building to get tested.
Patrons who also attended Kuleto’s Cocktail Bar on King Street, Newtown on the night of Friday, August 28 have been advised to get tested for the disease and isolate for 14 days. The venue has been closed for cleaning.
NSW Health is also assessing potential exposure to COVID-19 of people who attended Bondi Platinum Fitness First at Westfield Bondi Junction on Monday, 31 August. Anyone who attended the gym who develops the slightest symptoms has been advised to immediately isolate and get tested.
And anyone who attended Randwick Fitness First from Sunday, August 23 to Tuesday, September 1 is also being told to get tested if they have even the slightest symptoms of the disease and isolate until test results are available.
This comes as a ski resort and a restaurant in Jindabyne became the latest venues in NSW to be slapped with fines for not complying with Public Health Orders.
At 11.30pm on Wednesday, August 15, police were called to a unit on Snowy River Ave, Jindabyne after reports that a party was taking place.
On arrival, authorities found more than 20 people in attendance with little social distancing occurring.
The three occupants of the unit were each fined $1000.
At about 7.45pm yesterday, police received information that a restaurant, also on Snowy River Ave, was overcrowded.
Officers from Monaro Police District attended the venue and observed a large gathering of people inside. The female owner was issued with a $1000 PIN.
Other venues fined over the last week include a restaurant on Clovelly Rd, Randwick, which was over capacity and a recreational shooting club on Heathcote Road, Heathcote, which could not produce a COVID-19 Safety Plan.
WORST VENUE FOR COVID BREACHES NAMED
The Bondi Bowling Club has been named as the worst venue to date for coronavirus beaches while a front line health worker is among the latest cases to be confirmed on Saturday.
The venue has been fined $10,000 by the state’s liquor authority for failing to comply with measures after inspectors visited on August 29.
Inspectors say they observed multiple group bookings of more than 10 people and no social distancing in bar queues, among other breaches.
It takes the title from the Garry Owen Hotel in Rozelle, which was dubbed the most neglectful after a series of breaches last month.
It comes as five people were diagnosed with coronavirus on Friday, with a front line health worker expected to be among those confirmed to have the disease today.
Four are related to a growing CBD cluster which has climbed to 61 and the other is a returned traveller in hotel quarantine.
The health worker is understood to have been infected despite wearing full personal protective equipment while in contact with patients and a surgical mask at other times.
NSW Health says the worker was potentially infectious while working at Concord Hospital emergency department on September 1 and Liverpool Hospital emergency department on September 4.
The agency also confirmed of the active 94 cases currently undergoing treatment in NSW Hospitals, six were in intensive care, four of whom are currently on ventilators.
Victoria endured another horror day of coronavirus cases with 11 people tragically dying after contracting the illness and 76 more people infected.
NSW MP TO QLD: ‘WE WON’T FORGET’
NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall has fired off a warning to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk for refusing to lift border restrictions, declaring that the move “won’t be forgotten”.
The Northern Tablelands MP whose electorate sits on the Queensland border said NSW officials were now in talks with their counterparts in Victoria and South Australia over the lifting of restrictions to allow for the free passage of agriculture and machinery.
“We won’t forget what happened (on Friday) and who stepped up to the mark and showed leadership and those who want to play politics in the middle of a pandemic,” he said.
“NSW officials have already been talking with Victoria and South Australian officials and hopefully we can start to remove restrictions from all three of those jurisdictions next week so that agriculture and machinery can pass freely from those states.
“We won’t be allowed to pass in to the socialist republic of Queensland. However, there will come a day when Queensland will need something from NSW, Victoria or South Australia and when the times comes, we will not forget.”
MAN CHARGED FOR ALLEGEDLY ATTEMPTING TO BRIBE BORDER COP
Five new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in NSW overnight, NSW Health’s Dr Christine Selvey confirmed today.
Of those one is a returned traveller in hotel quarantine and four are linked to the growing CBD cluster, bringing the outbreak to 61.
Meanwhile, a man has been charged for allegedly attempting to bribe a police officer to let him cross the NSW-Victoria border.
NSW police said the 66-year-old’s vehicle was stopped at the Barmah Bridge checkpoint about 2pm on Friday, where officers spoke to the driver and asked for his border permit to enter the state.
That was when the man allegedly offered an envelope containing $1000 to the officer.
The Victorian man was arrested and taken to Deniliquin Police Station, where he was charged with giving or offering a bribe to a member of NSW Police.
He was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear in Moama Local Court on November 4.
VIC RECORDS 76 NEW COVID CASES, 11 DEATHS
Victoria has recorded another 76 cases of coronavirus, and 11 deaths overnight.
The news comes as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is preparing to reveal the road map out of lockdown this weekend, after the state recorded 81 new cases and 59 deaths on Friday.
Fifty of those deaths were not in the most recent 24 hour reporting period and actually occurred between July and August. They were reclassified.
As a result of Friday’s national cabinet meeting new ‘hotspot’ rules to govern how state borders can reopen before Christmas will declare metropolitan areas no-go zones if they record 30 new COVID-19 cases or more in three days.
The new rules suggest Melbourne and Sydney will need to get their daily cases down to fewer than 10 a day before other states agree to open borders.
But in regional towns the bar will be even lower in the event of an outbreak, with just nine cases over three days triggering a ‘hotspot’ rating.