Thousands descend on Australian capital cities for Freedom Day

Alexandra Marshall
  |   July 24, 2021

Thousands of protestors have descended on Australia's capital cities as part of the international Freedom Day movement. Full report by Rebel News coming soon.

The Sydney lockdown has been interrupted by an anti-lockdown protest rolling through the CBD on Saturday.

Residents marched against NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian and the health measures put in place to control the Delta variant of Covid.

Hundreds turned into thousands as the Freedom Protest moved from Victoria Park in Camperdown toward Hyde Park. Several arrests were made.

In the past twenty-four hours, 250 fines have been handed out in NSW for breaking public health orders with police scalding people for attending small birthday gatherings.

The Freedom Rally, and those like it across the world, are a demonstration of frustration against mandatory lockdowns and restrictions related to Covid. Many involved have been left without work or government support. Others are furious at the erasure of civil liberties.

"NSW Police support the right to free speech but the first priority is public health," said a police spokesman, speaking with the ABC.

Organisers of the Freedom Rally applied for a permit but were rejected by NSW Police.

Heavy-handed policing resulted in protestors throwing items at mounted police when the rally ended up in a choke outside Town Hall. Barricades were made by police across George Street and the unauthorised event blocked traffic until descending into a brawl with police when it reached Hyde Park.

Sydney has been in lockdown for four weeks with no end in sight as Berejiklian insists on a ‘Covid-Zero’ approach that is not being pursued by any other major nation in the world except New Zealand.

The protestors demanded ‘freedom!’ a they made their way through various Covid hotspots. Under current regulations, only those employed in essential work are allowed to leave their homes for work.

Signs also read, ‘Drop your mask, raise your voice!’ ‘I am not a bio-hazard’ and ‘My rights are essential!’

Another protestor climbed onto the roof of a Woolworths to hold up a sign reading, ‘Western Sydney Lives Matter’ in a reference to the Black Lives Matter protests which the government has previously allowed to go ahead during other lockdowns.

Similar protests are underway in Brisbane and Victoria.

“Protest against this virus by staying at home, following the rules and getting out of lockdown,” said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

The Daily Mail referred to the protesters as, "Frenzied crowds shouting 'freedom' and anti-vaccine conspiracy slogans swarmed Haymarket in the city centre from midday on Saturday, just moments after NSW Health's Jeremy McAnulty declared the area a virus hotspot.”

However, those interviewed at the scene expressed their desperation as rolling lockdowns send ordinary Australians into debt and mental anguish.

This comes only days after a leaked video showed Daily Mail editor Barclay Crawford saying that, "We'll keep trying to run stories that call out the anti-vax weirdos."

Protests have traditionally been seen as an unshakeable civil right.

'We live in a democracy and normally I am certainly one who supports people's right to protest, but I actually think it is really silly,' said NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazzard.

NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Chant has recently been ridiculed for telling Sydney residents ‘not to talk to each other’ as new restrictions were brought in.

Despite headlines in other publications, the Freedom Protest is not an ‘anti-vax’ event, it is a political movement against government overreach during the Covid pandemic attended by a wide variety of concerned communities.

Alexandra Marshall

Australian Contributor

Alexandra Marshall is an Australian political opinion commentator. She is a contributor to Sky News, the Spectator Australia, Good Sauce, Penthouse Australia, and Caldron Pool with a special interest in liberty and Asian politics. Prior to writing, she spent a decade as an AI architect in the retail software industry designing payroll and rostering systems.

https://twitter.com/ellymelly

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