Australia seems to be in the grips of COVID-induced insanity as people across the country are vigorously protesting against the lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the renewed bout of coronavirus outbreak.
After violent ruckus witnessed on the streets of major Australian cities, including Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and dogs shot dead by a rural council in New South Wales to prevent volunteers from travelling during Covid restrictions, Australian truck drivers have threatened to shut down major highways across the country as a mark of protest against Covid lockdowns.
Social media websites are awash with a video of a truck driver who said in his video that truck drivers are ‘planning to shut down the country’ to ‘remove the s*** government’. He further warned the Aussies that their demonstration could end up choking supply chains and urged them to stock up on groceries to get them through the next couple of weeks.
“It’s on. The truckies are doing it. The truckies are going to shut down the country,’ the man says in the video. What that means is you need to go shopping now, get what you can for the next week or two, load your fridge, freezers,” the truck driver could be seen saying in the video.
The man in the video claims truck drivers in Australia have been in discussions with people from “around the world” and are collaborating with war veterans to carry out the protest.
As per a report published by the Daily Mail Australia, the social media page of the man in question is replete with anti-vax posts, including wild claims that the vaccine is a conspiracy hatched by America and China to ‘poison’ people.
“The truck drivers are in. So are the VETS. I’m in. I am willing to go to jail to save my country and children,” he says.
The man, however, did not reveal how many truck drivers have partaken in the protests. Since the video of the man had gone viral on the internet, other truck drivers from other countries have also surfaced online, advising measures to undertake to avoid authorities from towing away their trucks.
A fundraising campaign has also started on GoFundMe, asking people to make donations to support Australian truck drivers, with the fundraiser raising $3302 of the $200,000 goal in just a matter of five hours.
Dogs shot dead by an Australian rural council to prevent volunteers from travelling during Covid restrictions
Earlier yesterday, it was reported that a rural council in New South Wales, Australia, had shot dead dogs waiting to be rescued by a shelter in order to prevent volunteers from travelling during Covid-19 restrictions. According to the Office of Local Government, the Bourke Shire Council killed the dogs to prevent volunteers from a Cobar-based animal shelter from travelling last week.
“OLG has been informed that the council decided to take this course of action to protect its employees and community, including vulnerable Aboriginal populations, from the risk of COVID-19 transmission,” the watchdog’s spokesperson said.
One of the dogs was a new mother and as per the report, the animal shelter had the necessary precautions in place to transport the dogs safely. Moreover, Cobar has not seen any recent case of local transmission of Covid-19.
Police use rubber pellets, tear gas to disperse thousands of people who had come out on streets to defy COVID-19 restrictions
Widespread protests were witnessed in Australia over the weekend as thousands of unmasked protesters carried out anti-lockdown rallies in various cities throughout the country in defiance of the restrictions imposed by the government in the wake of the resurgent coronavirus outbreak.
Violent clashes erupted between protesters and law enforcement officials in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney as the latter accused the former of having “violence in mind”. Hundreds of protesters were detained and seven officers were hospitalised as a result of clashes a day after the country saw its highest-ever single-day rise in COVID-19 cases.
The scene of violence and chaos was particularly stark in Melbourne, where more than 4,000 people had come out to oppose the coronavirus-induced lockdown in the country. Victoria police arrested 218 protesters and six police officers were hospitalised in a series of altercations that ensued between the two sides.
The protests in Melbourne took place after Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, announced that the strict lockdown imposed in the city would be extended across the entire state. The state recorded 77 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday.
Much like the anti-lockdown rallies in Melbourne, protesters in Sydney also took to the streets to register their protest against lockdown. More than 1,500 officers were deployed in the city to control the demonstrations. Taxis and Ubers plying in the city were banned until 3 pm on Saturday. Trains were not allowed to stop at city centre stations.
Similarly, thousands of protesters also demonstrated on the streets of Brisbane in Queensland after restrictions were imposed in the city to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.
Australian police on Saturday employed harsh measures, including the use of rubber bullets and tear gas, to disperse crowds that had gathered on roads in a nationwide protest to oppose the imposition of lockdown by the government.
It is worth noting that Australia has been witnessing a steady uptick in COVID-19 caseloads, with the highest number of new cases in a single day reported on Saturday last week. With vaccinations dragging at a snail’s pace, the Australian government had announced a strict COVID-19 lockdown to tame the new wave of outbreak. However, it seems insanity and paranoia seems to be spreading at a much faster rate than the coronavirus outbreak.
