Australia takes their mask mandate seriously.

Image from preview.redd.it and submitted by KindlyCold
image showing Australia takes their mask mandate seriously.

dontgoforthe1 on September 28th, 2021 at 14:12 UTC »

Is that Kevin from The Office?

Spartan2470 on September 28th, 2021 at 15:00 UTC »

Here is a higher quality version of this image. Credit to the photographer, Justin McManus, who took this on September 5, 2020. Per the source of the image:

More than a thousand anti-lockdown protesters have said they will join a "Freedom Walk" on the Tan this Saturday after last weekend's clashes between demonstrators and police.

Police confirmed on Wednesday that they are monitoring the potential protest, promoted on Facebook as the "Melbourne Freedom Walk".

An organiser, Tony Pecora, is an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist dropped by Clive Palmer as his party's candidate for the seat of Melbourne at the last federal election...

Police arrested 17 people at a gathering on Saturday that began at the Shrine of Remembrance and moved on to Albert Park Lake. After that event, protesters vowed to continue taking to the streets in defiance of coronavirus restrictions.

More than 1300 people have indicated that they are either interested in attending or plan to attend the protest at the running track that encircles Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens.

The page promoting the event claims the walk is legal, but does not elaborate on whether it conflicts with stage four restrictions still in place in Melbourne

It would be "a legal walk, allowing citizens to come together, get healthy and talk about getting our freedoms back", organisers wrote.

The only people allowed to exercise on the Tan under stage four rules are those who live within five kilometres of the walking track and then for no more than an hour. Police say any protest would be illegal under the current restrictions.

"Victoria Police is aware [of] and monitoring potential protest activity planned for this weekend," a spokeswoman said.

"We are currently making a number of inquiries in relation to this and remain in the process of planning our operational response.

"It remains very clear that under stage four restrictions protest activity cannot occur, with any individual deliberately and blatantly breaching the Chief Health Officer’s directives liable for a fine of $1652."

Organsier Mr Pecora said the march had been designed to comply with the directives.

"This Freedom Walk is geared toward residents that live within five kilometres of Melbourne," said Mr Pecora, who wants Melbourne to "reset" back to what the laws were before COVID-19 restrictions were introduced, and policies that allow "everybody to take responsibility for their own health".

"Social distancing will be adhered to, along with facial coverings, and the aim is to remain walking so as not to create a conflict with police," he said.

"This is an effort to win hearts and minds, and conflict is the last thing we want.

"This walk will happen every week. Same time, same place. We expect more than 15,000 people this Saturday, and hopefully it doubles week on week."

Mr Pecora is an anti-vaxxer who was dropped by Clive Palmer as the United Australia Party's candidate for the seat of Melbourne in the 2019 federal election over his views on various conspiracy theories, including relating to the September 11 attacks.

Police estimated about 200 people gathered at the Shrine of Remembrance late on Saturday morning after people used social media to tout "Freedom Day" rallies across the country.

About 100 police were in and around the Shrine early in the day. Mounted officers were used to move the crowd on about midday amid chants of "Dictator Dan" and "Let the kids live".

Before last Saturday's protest, police said they would arrest people they suspected of "inciting" people to attend.

Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius had said that the force would not tolerate "bat shit crazy" anti-coronavirus theories and warned people planning to attend protests that their feet "won’t touch the ground" before they were arrested.

Edit: Added the text from the article.

Ocksu2 on September 28th, 2021 at 15:45 UTC »

Arrested for spilling the Chili?