Coronavirus Australia: Lockdown to lunacy as Black Lives Matter protests mock virus risk
Thousands attending Black Lives Matter rallies across the country will ignore health advice and march in defiance of warnings.
Thousands of protesters attending Black Lives Matter rallies across the country will ignore health advice and march in defiance of warnings from Scott Morrison and state leaders, setting up a showdown with police and risking a new COVID-19 breakout.
BLM rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, protesting over black deaths in custody and demonstrating solidarity with George Floyd, who was killed by police in the US city of Minneapolis, are expected to proceed despite the last-ditch move by NSW to ban a planned mass gathering of more than 10,000 people at Sydney’s Town Hall.
The Victorian, South Australian and Queensland governments said on Friday they would allow the protests to proceed despite COVID-19 social-distancing restrictions banning mass gatherings.
The Prime Minister, who spoke with premiers Gladys Berejiklian and Daniel Andrews about the protests on Friday morning, told protesters to stay away from the rallies and cited health advice that “it’s not a good idea to go”.
Mr Morrison invoked the sacrifices made by Australians in cancelling Anzac Day events, restrictions on attending funerals and the devastating impact of COVID-19 on businesses. He also warned of infection in indigenous communities.
“I think all Australians owe all those other Australians a great degree of responsibility and I say to them: don’t go,” he said.
He said the health risks of “gathering in such large numbers are real”.
“One of our greatest fears at the start of this COVID crisis, for premiers, myself, our cabinet at a federal level, has been our concern for the potential impact on indigenous communities of COVID-19,” Mr Morrison said. “And not just remote communities, but metropolitan communities as well.”
Following Mr Morrison’s intervention, hundreds of Canberra BLM supporters marched to Parliament House on Friday protesting Aboriginal deaths in custody. Protesters did not maintain 1.5m social distancing.
Health Minister Greg Hunt warned that Aboriginal Australians leading the protests could be infected by COVID-19 and spread the disease to elders in their communities.
“It would be a terrible irony if, as we pursue the national goal of increasing the health of indigenous Australians, there is a protest which put that health at risk,” Mr Hunt said. “If they attend a mass gathering, they then risk taking that back to their elders and their elderly. And so, that’s why this protest is doubly dangerous to indigenous Australians.”
NSW Supreme Court judge Desmond Fagan on Friday night ruled in favour of an application by NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller to block the Sydney CBD protest. Justice Fagan said the prospect of more than 10,000 people attending the rally was not “acceptable” due to the public health threat. “I don’t diminish the importance of the issue,” he said. “No one would deny them the opportunity in ordinary circumstances. But we are talking about a situation of a health crisis.”
Organisers and supporters of the rally vowed that the protest would go ahead.
Mr Fuller said officers were under orders not to hesitate to arrest protesters and impose $1000 fines for breaches of the NSW Public Health Act.
He said if more than 500 people showed up, that would trigger police — including the public order riot squad and mounted police — to order people to leave and “if they fail to leave, we could take action”.
Ms Berejiklian, who came under pressure from senior colleagues over the Sydney protest, said that following discussions with Mr Fuller the BLM rally had been deemed “illegal”. Ms Berejiklian said the potential of a new outbreak in NSW was “extremely high”.
“I’m asking, appealing and pleading with those thousands of people who’ve indicated they’re turning up to a protest — please, do not do it,” she said. “Stay at home. Express yourself in a different way.”
Leetona Dungay, mother of David Dungay, a 26-year-old indigenous man who died in police custody in 2015, said she planned to march in the rally on Saturday regardless of the Supreme Court decision.
“I am going to march for George Floyd,” Ms Dungay said. “Black lives matter … We don’t care what any acts of law tell us what to do.”
Indigenous rights activist and Bundjalung woman Nessa Turnbull-Roberts said Aboriginal voices were being “amplified” because a “black life” was murdered by an “institution”. While she encouraged indigenous elders and those at risk of COVID-19 to stay home, she said there was an “opportunity in this pandemic” to see change.
Victoria Police deputy commissioner Shane Patton said officers would issue $1652 fines if the state’s ban on gatherings of more than 20 were breached. He conceded police would probably have to apply “a lot of discretion because you can’t practically issue thousands and thousands of infringements to people who gather in a large protest”.
Mr Andrews encouraged Victorians not to attend the rally, saying the nation was “in the middle of a global pandemic” and that “big events are not allowed.” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said people who wanted to protest over the treatment of indigenous Australians should stay home and show support on social media. She said Queenslanders who attended public protests should follow social distancing rules and keep in family groups.
SA Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said he had tried to balance public health considerations with the right to hold peaceful protests, in providing Adelaide rally organisers with exemptions to COVID-19 restrictions.
Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said the BLM protests risked undoing months of work to protect Aboriginal communities from coronavirus and one person could infect up to 50 others.
Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice said large crowds “greatly increase the risk of infection, as the ability to maintain physical distancing is reduced”.
Additional reporting: Richard Ferguson, Angelica Snowden, Rachel Baxendale, David Penberthy
More Coverage
So many visits signal a whole lot of trouble for Labor
Labor is in trouble in the Northern Territory and in danger of losing at least one seat – Darwin-based Solomon – at the election.
Albanese v Dutton: a tale of two dangerous expectations
Labor started this week with its best performance in months, but the PM is still looking like a loser trying to look like a winner while his rival battles the opposite problem.