Brady Gunn, A Stand in the Park: Protester charged over alleged Covid breach

The founder of a powerful anti-mask, anti-vaccine group which has thousands of followers across the world has been charged after allegedly trying to enter Sydney at the weekend.

A prominent Australian anti-lockdown protester whose is the founder of a group which promoted the violent Sydney anti-lockdown rally earlier this month has been banned from his powerful social media channels.

Brady Kenneth Gunn, 45, was arrested on Saturday after police allege he travelled outside his local government area into Sydney. Gunn was also charged with not wearing a face mask on public transport and refusing to comply with a police direction.

Gunn is the founder of “A Stand in the Park”, a group which has sparked a worldwide “freedom” movement. The group opposes lockdowns and harbours conspiracy theories, anti-vaccine and anti-mask rhetoric among its tens of thousands of members.

Gunn, pictured at the Sydney rally in July, has been banned from using social media accounts connected to the group.

The group has more than 16,000 followers on Facebook and thousands across several Instagram accounts.

Their private Facebook group has more than 40,000 followers.

The movement began from Brady’s home in Port Macquarie and has grown so huge that thousands have been taking to the streets in London during the pandemic.

Police allege Gunn travelled on trains to a home in Oatley in breach of a public safety order and refused to comply with a police direction after they also allegedly noticed him not wearing a mask in a public transport waiting area.

He will face court again later this year.

Gunn was arrested and charged at Kogarah police station where he was refused bail.

He appeared in Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday where he was granted bail by a magistrate on the condition he does not use any of the A Stand in the Park social media pages.

He also has to report to Port Macquarie police three times a week and is banned from entering Greater Sydney.

According to the group’s social media accounts they have vowed to protest in local parks across NSW “every Sunday”.

Police and members of the ADF out in force over the weekend. Picture: Toby Zerna

Their attempt at a rally in Camperdown’s Memorial Rest Park this past Sunday was met with a strong police presence who deterred the few who turned up donning yellow – the group’s symbol of “freedom”.

One of Gunn’s followers announced his arrest and social media ban on the group’s Facebook page over the weekend.

“Hopefully Brady will be able to fill you in himself but I just wanted to put your minds at ease because you know how it is on the internet, Chinese whispers and people run away with it,” she said.

“It’s very good news that Brads is coming out today (on bail).”