Cops close in on horse-riding anti-lockdown protester after incident on Queensland-NSW border

Police are closing in on the horse-mounted protester who bounded through border blockades at a rowdy demonstration at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads on Sunday. It comes as NSW cops make more arrests.

Police are closing in on a horse-mounted protester who bounded through border blockades at a rowdy demonstration at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads on Sunday.

The man, riding a white horse, was among about 2000 people who took part in the anti-lockdown and hard border closure protest.

NSW police arrested nine people and issued 55 fines in what the state’s Police and Emergency Services Minister David Elliott slammed as the ‘abhorrent actions of the minority’.

The man riding a horse at the weekend protest has been arrested. Picture: Richard Gosling

There was only one arrest on the Queensland side of the border - a 55-year-old Nerang man who was charged with obstructing police.

Police said they were reviewing CCTV and mobile phone footage to identify and prosecute protestors, including the man on a horse who rode his mount across the border.

NSW police said six of those arrested, and aged between 27 and 64, were charged with offences including assaulting, resisting and hindering police, unlawfully participate in an outdoor gathering, breaching Covid-19 directions and possessing prohibited drugs.

All six were granted conditional bail to appear at Tweed Heads Local Court on Monday 20 September 2021.

A 39-year-old man was also arrested at the protest on an outstanding arrest warrant and refused bail.

People in the tweed protesting the border restrictions. 22 August 2021 Coolangatta Picture by Richard Gosling

Tweed/Byron police commander Dave Roptell said detectives were reviewing CCTV and mobile phone footage to identify and prosecute protesters, and urged anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers.

“Our officers are reviewing all available vision to ensure we are able to identify and take appropriate action against those who were in attendance yesterday,” Superintendent Roptell said.

“The majority of the Far North Coast community have been doing the right thing by following the Stay at Home orders and keeping the community safe. It is extremely frustrating that a minority of people continue to have a blatant disregard for the wider community’s safety and put other people in danger.

“The Public Health Orders are in place to limit movement so we can prevent further spread of COVID-19 – the Delta variant doesn’t follow boundaries or borders, we need to work together to stop the outbreak.

“Our goal is to get out of lockdown, and this sort of mass gathering is not to help us going forward.”

Originally published as Cops close in on horse-riding anti-lockdown protester after incident on Queensland-NSW border