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By Hande Atay Alam
At least 235 people were arrested and 10 police officers injured following a large anti-containment protest on Saturday in Melbourne, Australia.
There were 2,000 police in Melbourne CBD to prevent large protest groups to meet, said Victoria Police Commander Mark Galliott.
“What we saw today is a group of protesters who came together, not to protest freedoms, but simply to confront and fight with the police,” Galliott told reporters. “This is what we saw, they are aggressive and angry young men, they had to fight the police not to protest freedom.”
Galliott pointed out that the only way to gain freedom as a society is to work together and get vaccinated. “Once we did that, we would be enjoying the summer, enjoying Christmas, spending time with the families. Doing this does nothing to advance a course. It has never been a success here or abroad, protesting gets you nowhere.
He also said that if the authorities had not taken preventive measures to shut down the public transport system and enforce vehicle checkpoints, there could have been thousands of protesters in the city. Police said around 500 to 700 protesters were in Melbourne’s central business district on Saturday.
Victoria state extended its lockdown earlier this month for an additional three weeks after strict restrictions failed to reduce the number of new daily coronavirus cases.
Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews has said restrictions will only be relaxed when 70% of eligible residents receive their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
This is expected to happen on or around September 23. So far, 56% of people aged 16 and over have received their first dose.
Despite recent surges, Australia has managed to keep its coronavirus count relatively low, with just over 84,000 cases, according to John Hopkins University, and less than 1,150 deaths.
The-CNN-Wire
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