Walking down to the local Saturday morning street market, I wasn’t expecting to find myself amidst the beginnings of a violent protest. Seeing some police, I thought they were out and about to ensure the public weren’t taking too many liberties with the slightly eased restrictions that had come into effect for Melbourne the previous night. But half a dozen on each corner of Church St and Bridge Rd in inner-city Richmond suggested something more.
After a quick message, a bemused friend sent me event information that had been circulating on social media. The protest was to begin at midday, fifteen minutes away, and participants were encouraged to arrive early and ‘blend in’ before they made themselves known. Many had arrived early, but they didn’t quite manage to blend in.
There was a palpable sense of tension as I crossed Church St, off to do my shopping. On side streets protestors were getting out of cars and kitting themselves out for an afternoon’s protesting. Changing their shoes, putting on waist belts with holders for water bottles, and one doesn’t like to think what else. They greeted each other, trying to be discreet. I have no way of knowing whether some knew others already, but the greetings had the sense of new encounters, each made familiar to the other by this common, clandestine undertaking.
I could not help but circle back to Church St as midday past, my shopping bag full. The protestors, rather than head towards the heavily barricaded CBD, were beginning to march east. A seemingly small group of police emerged from a side street and formed a line about 50 meters or so from the protestors, shuffling ahead as they went. Other police seemed to arrive and depart in big coaches and unmarked SUVs.
It felt like street theatre. Almost. The anger and the aggression of the protestors was too intense for anything so trifling. Some shouted slogans denying the presence of the virus at all, others seemed primarily concerned by the mandating of vaccines, others still chanted for an end to lockdowns. After a further week of protests, the demands of these individuals and various groups remain unclear, but the anger and aggression remain palpable.
'It is not especially surprising that those who tend to do well out of our current social structures are willing to trust the government, persevere with the lockdowns and get the jab.'
As some protestors marched past those