Several thousand people marched in Melbourne today against the new vaccination orders, with some comparing the state government to the Nazis and inciting violent backlash against politicians, according to local media.
In Australia, where 83% of people aged 16 and over have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, vaccination is optional nationwide. However, states and territories of the country require vaccination for various occupational groups and have excluded those who are not vaccinated from going to restaurants or concerts.
The protest in Melbourne against the vaccination order that came into force today – requiring construction workers in the state of Victoria to be fully immunized – was peaceful, with no immediate reports of delinquent behavior or arrests.
However, a reporter for The Age posted a video on Twitter showing a protester carrying a fake three-loop gallows while the newspaper published a photo of a protester holding a poster with Victorian Prime Minister Daniel Andrews having a mustache like Hitler and hashtag #DictatorDan (dictator Dan).
“We are ruled by insane health officials,” Craig Kelly, a former Liberal MP and now leader of the United Australia party, told protesters.
According to The Age newspaper, some protesters called on citizens to react violently against politicians, without giving further details.
There have been several protests in Australia in recent months – in some cases violent – against vaccines, although the movement remains limited, with polls showing single-digit rates of vaccine opposition across the country.
Victoria, the second most populous state in the country, home to a quarter of Australia’s 25 million people, has an 87% vaccination rate and went through six lockdowns due to COVID-19, which lasted a total of almost nine months.
Today, 1,221 new cases were reported in Victoria and four deaths and 250 infections in 24 hours in New South Wales.
Despite outbreaks of the Delta strain that led to months of lockdowns in the two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, the nationwide count of less than 190,000 infections and 1,591 deaths is much lower than in many developed countries.
Neighboring New Zealand, which is also learning to live with the coronavirus following the adoption of the immunization policy through vaccination, reported 175 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic to 8,121. A total of 33 deaths have been recorded.
In several New Zealand cities, there have been several anti-government protests against COVID-19 measures, with citizens driving their cars at low speeds on major highways to cause traffic jams.
Source: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ
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Source From: Capital
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