Australia vaccine-mandate protesters compare state govt to Nazis - media
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[November 13, 2021]
By Lidia Kelly
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Several thousand
people rallied in Melbourne against new vaccination mandates on
Saturday, with a few comparing the state government to Nazis and calling
for violence against politicians, local media said.
In Australia, where 83% of people aged 16 and above have been fully
inoculated against the coronavirus, nationwide vaccinations are
voluntary. But states and territories have mandated vaccinations for
many occupations and barred the unvaccinated from activities such as
dining out and concerts.
The Melbourne demonstration against the vaccination mandate that came
into effect on Saturday - requiring construction workers in Victoria
state to be fully inoculated - was peaceful, with no immediate reports
of unruly behaviour or arrests.
But a reporter at The Age posted video on Twitter of a protester
carrying a mock gallows with three nooses hanging from it, and the
newspaper showed a protester carrying a poster depicting Victorian
Premier Daniel Andrews with a Hitler moustache and the hashtag #DictatorDan.
"We're being governed by insane medical bureaucrats," Craig Kelly,
former Liberal Party member of parliament and now the leader of United
Australia Party, told the rally, media reported.
The Age said some protesters called for violence against politicians but
did not offer specifics.
An Australian singer Claire Woodley dedicated a song to "victims of
satanic ritual abuse" - a rhetoric common in the QAnon conspiracy theory
about abducting children for satanic rites.
Andrews' office and protest organisers could not immediately be reached
for comment.
Australia has seen frequent, occasionally violent, anti-vaccine rallies
in recent months, though the movement remains small, with polls showing
nationwide opposition in the single digits.
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A nurse immuniser administers the AstraZeneca vaccine to a patient
at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination clinic at the
Bankstown Sports Club during a lockdown to curb an outbreak of cases
in Sydney, Australia, August 25, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott/File
Photo
Victoria, the second-most populous state with a
quarter of Australia's 25 million people, has an 87% vaccination
rate and has endured six COVID-19 lockdowns totalling nearly nine
months.
There were 1,221 new infections reported on Saturday in Victoria and
four deaths, and 250 daily cases in New South Wales.
Despite Delta outbreaks that led to months of lockdown in the two
largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, the national tally of just
under 190,000 infections and 1,591 deaths is far lower than that of
many developed nations.
Neighbouring New Zealand, which is also learning to live with the
coronavirus through high vaccination rates, reported 175 new cases,
bringing the total number of confirmed cases since the start of the
pandemic to 8,121. There have been 33 deaths in total.
In major cities across New Zealand, several anti-government protests
against COVID-19 measures took place, with people driving slowly on
main roads to cause traffic congestion.
"Crass and stupid but what else would you expect!" Auckland Mayor
Phil Goff said in a message on his Facebook page.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by William Mallard
and Jacqueline Wong)
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