Coronavirus: Victoria police on alert over deniers’ plan to rally

Victoria Police issue a warning over plans by coronavirus deniers to hold a demonstration in Melbourne as cases soar.

Victoria Police have confirmed they will attend a planned coronavirus denier demonstration planned for Friday. Picture: Supplied

Victoria Police are on red alert ahead of plans by coronavirus deniers to stage a public demonstration in Melbourne as the number of cases of the highly infectious disease soars.

Photoshopped images referencing the Anzacs and Australia Day urging people in every state to gather at their shrines on Friday are circulating on social media.

It comes as Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews pleaded with people to wear masks on Tuesday after a woman dubbed “Karen from Bunnings” went viral for refusing to wear a face cover.

A Victoria Police spokesman said police would be attending a planned demonstration on Friday and would fine anyone found deliberately breaching the public health directive.

“There will be a highly visible police presence at the event and if people do attend, and are found to be in breach of the directions issued by the Chief Health Officer, they will be subject to enforcement action,” he did.

“Anyone found to be blatantly, deliberately or obviously breaching the Chief Health Officer directions can expect to receive a fine of $1652.”

A woman who said she’d done work with coronavirus denier group 99% Unite posted an image decorated with a red Australian flag and a shrine advertising the event.

“If you attend ANZAC 25th April usually, then there should be no difference on this date as they removed our rights to attend our shrines for ANZAC this year due their fake Covid lockdown,” she said in the caption.

A small event to “exercise a claim of freedom” at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance on Friday is planned by the obscure Church of United Kingdom of Australia group.

The Facebook post.

Physical Anzac Day ceremonies were cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic, with thousands instead lighting candles in their driveways in socially distanced dawn ceremonies.

On Tuesday, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews urged Melburnians to wear masks saying those who believed wearing face masks contravened their human rights would be fined.

“We do continue to see some people who believe their own liberties or their human rights are more important than human life,” he said.

“I say that’s not only a really bad decision, it’s not a very smart one.”

Victoria’s COVID-19 death toll soared to 63 on Tuesday, with the total number of active cases in the state rising to 4775.

Refusing to wear a mask has become a symbol of resistance for coronavirus deniers in an imaginary battle for their human rights after the Victorian government made face-coverings mandatory.

A video of Kerry Nash, dubbed Karen at Bunnings, went viral on the weekend after she refused to wear a mask inside one of the hardware chain’s stores, filming herself as she berated staff about her rights.

Ms Nash reportedly called police after reporters attempted to speak to her on Monday but fellow anti-masker Lizzie Rose went on to the Today Show to push her views on Tuesday.

Asked whether she thought wearing a mask was a breach of her human rights, she said: “I do. This is my voice. It is about an agenda. It is not only about a virus.”

Ms Rose also disputed virus statistics, claiming the numbers “are not true” and that she believed the virus was “biochemically engineered intentionally”.

A self-proclaimed psychic and witch, Ms Rose runs the Facebook page The Illuminating Army, which carries advice on how to resist police directions about masks.

Eve Black, who went viral after filming herself passing through a Melbourne lockdown checkpoint, was photographed at a meeting at a Cranbourne gym on Sunday.

The meeting was attended by dozens of people in contravention of the coronavirus public health order.

A Victoria Police spokesman declined to say whether any of the attendees would be fined $1652.