Lockdown protesters plotted on social media
The violent protests that swept through Sydney’s CBD might have taken police by surprise, but they had been planned for weeks.
The violent protests that swept through Sydney’s CBD might have taken the city — and even police — by surprise, but they had been plotted weeks before the lockdown was even declared by a hard-core group of social-media-savvy conspirators.
Many of the same agitators were involved in a wave of similar “freedom” protests that rocked Melbourne during its second wave almost a year ago, with organisers tapping into a network of Covid-19 conspiracy activists and latching on to the “World Wide Rally for Freedom” movement overseas.
Saturday’s protests saw the fringe movement of anti-lockdown and anti-vax sceptics go national for the first time, with thousands of protesters flouting restrictions in Sydney and Melbourne, with rallies also taking place in Adelaide and Brisbane.
Organiser and self-described “vigilante” Anthony Khallouf, who runs website Australians vs The Agenda to fight the “socialist, communist, fascist state” pushing the Covid-19 “scam” — admitted he was surprised by the turnout.
“This was not only a slam dunk, it was a home run, a premiership team going from being 18 on the ladder to destroying Richmond by 100 points,” he said.
Mr Khallouf, who is facing charges of incitement for his alleged role in Melbourne’s protests last year, told The Australian last Thursday that Sydney would be “the main event”, predicting his cause would tap into the frustrations of locked-down Sydneysiders, especially in the southwest.
“It was such a crazy day; co-ordinating an event where there are more than 100,000 people all over the country protesting about the exact same thing, at the exact same time and pulling it off without any problems, is a very proud moment,” he said.
Mr Khallouf said he felt no remorse about any Covid-19 infections that resulted from the protests, despite those who attended being slammed by NSW authorities as “halfwits” and “boofheads”.
“Don’t target people in certain demographics, and then you won’t see the consequences of targeting people, that’s basically it,” he said.
“There are a whole bunch of left-leaning extremists targeting us and people in our community saying you’re an idiot for attending or they’re calling it a ‘free-dumb’ rally or an anti-lockdown protest which it wasn’t — it was called World Wide Rally for Freedom.”
The details of Saturday’s protest had been circulated for weeks on social media, with early chatter about the protest on encrypted messaging app Telegram beginning in late May before Sydney’s lockdown had even begun, according to online discussions seen by The Australian.
In the week leading up to July 24, the protest hit the mainstream with “Sydney CBD takeover” plans being shared on Facebook and Instagram by Sydneysiders frustrated at the extended lockdown as fast as the social media platforms could remove the posts.
Meanwhile, multiple “freedom rally” Telegram groups in each state and city swelled to include thousands of activists, with many swapping protest strategy, plotting how to travel to the city from far away suburbs as well as scripts of “legalese” to tell police if arrested.
Supporters also shared links to content from UK conspiracy theorist David Icke, independent MP Craig Kelly and the US-based Qanon movement, which claims a cabal of Satan-worshipping child abusers secretly control the world.
Group chats on the app seen by The Australian included more than 2300 frustrated Sydney residents, 3800 in Melbourne and one nationwide group with more than 11,000 supporters by Thursday, as well as many spin-off groups.
The turnout at the Sydney protest suggests the cause had found a life outside a niche group of conspiracy theorists.
Many observers put the number of protesters at well over 5000 — more than the police estimate of 3500, though less than the 50,000 claimed by organisers.
The crowds that swarmed Victoria Park before converging at Town Hall comprised many different interest groups including groups of youths brandishing signs with anti-vaccination “pro-consent” slogans, others wearing Donald Trump and Guy Fawkes masks, and some waving flags associated with white supremacy.
One man carried a sign that said “ABC News is Zionist propaganda”, which elicited anti-Semitic cries from nearby supporters, while others railed against the “New World Order” or spruiked religious messages such as “Authority comes from God”.
Former boxer Anthony Mundine, who was recently fined for breaching health orders, was reportedly seen at the protest, as well as TikTok comedian Jon-Bernard Kairouz.
The online tools that brought the movement to a new audience could also be its undoing, with NSW police beginning the painstaking work of combing through social media posts and CCTV to identify those who attended.
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