Channel 7 reporter attacked, sprayed with ‘urine’ by protesters in Melbourne

A Channel 7 reporter has hit back at ‘cowardly’ protesters in Melbourne after he was attacked and sprayed with what he believes was urine.

A star Channel 7 reporter has responded to an ugly attack during Melbourne’s violent tradie protest on Tuesday, where he was grabbed around the neck and doused in what’s thought to be urine.

Reporter Paul Dowsley was covering the second day of protests over mandatory vaccinations as demonstrators marched from CFMEU headquarters to Parliament House when he and his cameraman were set upon by an angry mob.

Vision of the moment showed he was grabbed around the neck, before others joined in on the fracas.

“The outcome of that was Rick, my cameraman colleague, and myself, now being covered in what I believe is urine,” he said in a live cross shortly after.

“I believe that this has been thrown in my mouth, it’s all over me.”

Addressing the incident on Sunrise on Wednesday, he told hosts David Koch and Natalie Barr he was “fine”, but had a bump and a scratch on the back of his head.

“To be caught up in that was so unexpected. I’m there to try and find out what people are thinking and feeling,” he said.

“I want to report what they are saying, I want to report on their cause, and hope to get some respect and be treated in a way that’s better than that.

”What happened came out of nowhere. Didn’t see it coming. It’s such a cowardly way to behave.”

Ms Barr asked whether members of the crowd were “deliberately targeting” the media.

”Absolutely. We were a key target, along with police. They also targeted some motorists up on the West Gate, but generally it was police and the media,” Dowsley replied.

”They believe we are not reporting their cause, and it’s hard to do that when they just shout at you when you try to talk to them. I tried to communicate with several of them and they just shout you down, right up in your grill.

”There were a few who did explain it’s about the mandatory vaccinations in their industry. They think it’s unfair and shouldn’t be forced. And they are furious because now the industry has been shut down for a couple of weeks. Even though the chief health officer has explained this is a problem in the industry for weeks - hundreds of active cases in construction.”

He said there had been “an enormous shift in the mood” towards members of the media, albeit from “small groups”.

”You think of this industry, it’s 300,000 people in Victoria. The group was just a few hundred, and even whether they were all from that industry is a mystery. Who’s to know what the make-up of this group was,” Dowsley said.

”I have no doubt there were people who purely turned up for violence, and they got it.”

Channel 7 reporter Paul Dowsley on air after being attacked. Picture: 7 News

Dowsley said on Tuesday a couple of protesters had come back after the attack and told him “I hope you’re OK, that is not what were about”, and were “absolutely appalled” by the scene.

The moment @paul_dowsley is hit (again) this time with a can of drink. pic.twitter.com/jywumGU81O

— Blake Johnson (@BlakeJohnson) September 21, 2021

Moments later Dowsley was hit again with a protester throwing a can of drink into the back of his head while he was live on air.

“I’ve been grabbed around the neck today, I’ve had urine tipped on me, now I’ve had a can of energy drink thrown on me,” he said.

Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari condemned the attack on Dowsley.

“Paul is a worker doing his job. Attacking him is disgusting,” he said on Twitter.

“We condemn this. Every worker should come home safely.”

He was then hit by a can of drink at Melbourne’s anti-vax rally on Tuesday. Picture: Channel 7

Tuesday’s chaos was the second day in a row of protests, with hundreds of protesters dressed in fluoros rallying against mandatory vaccinations for construction workers and the immediate shutdown of the industry.

Rallies are expected to continue on Wednesday, with no end date in sight as police fail to keep the riotous crowds contained.

The Victorian government move swiftly to shutdown the sector overnight following the wild rally outside the CFMEU offices on Monday.

Protesters again tried to get to the Elizabeth St building on Tuesday but were headed off by a large police presence.

Police surround the CFMEU office on Tuesday morning.

There was a tense standoff for about an hour before the angry mob marched to Parliament House and demanded Premier Daniel Andrews come out.

Protesters chanted “f*** the jab” and sat down on the road, but police had so far prevented them from getting near the CFMEU building.

Signs with “Setka the sellout” and “f*** u Andrews” were also visible.

About 11am, riot police warned protesters to move on or face the use of force.

Union boss John Setka earlier labelled some of the protesters “drunken morons” and “extremists” and claimed only a small minority were actually union members.

He vowed to hunt down those responsible for “desecrating” their office during ugly anti-vax protests, but as of Wednesday was yet to boot any member from the union.

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