A small number of protesters have been arrested in Melbourne’s CBD this morning, as hundreds of police remain on high alert after yesterday’s violent protest.
More than 500 police officers are stationed in the city but so far the number of protesters has been very small.
Some people have been arrested outside the CFMEU’s office, with that area sectioned off by police.
Earlier the riot squad and mounted police moved from the union office towards the city.
ABC News: Ben Knight
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Union leader says protesters not welcome in construction industry
Union leaders say they’re trawling social media to identify members involved in protests..
Key points:
- CFMEU secretary John Setka says the union movement rejects those who took part in the violent protests
- Union leaders say far-right extremists have played a significant role in stoking the protests
- Police have stationed more than 500 officers in Melbourne’s CBD in anticipation of further protests
Yesterday up to 2,000 protesters, many expressing anti-vaccination views, gathered outside the CFMEU offices in central Melbourne before marching to the Victorian Parliament, then walking up the West Gate Bridge, stopping traffic.
Police arrested 62 people, three police officers were injured and a journalist was hurt after having a can of drink thrown at their head while they were presenting live.
Premier Daniel Andrews has condemned the “ugly” activity on Tuesday, describing it as “not only appalling, but unlawful”.
“What we saw yesterday is an insult to the vast, vast majority of tradies and people in the building industry, who are not about wrecking, but building,” he said.
He said although some people involved were from the building industry, others were not.
“They’re not there to protest, they’re there for a fight,” he said.
Police Minister Lisa Neville described people taking part in the protests as “thugs”.
“It’s a real slap in the face to the Victorian community who have been doing it very tough,” she said.
“We all want these restrictions to be over and what we saw yesterday were people who were willing to put that at risk.”
Police have warned they will change their tactics today and more than 500 officers will be stationed across the city.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said there had been significant unrest in Melbourne since Saturday’s anti-lockdown protests.
“Now is not the time for protests,” he said.
“Large gatherings and groups of people and the risk of the spread of the coronavirus, is quite real in those gatherings.”
He warned people against coming along to protest again.
“We will be agile in our response, we will be very swift in our response and conduct as we’ve seen yesterday and the previous day will not be tolerated,” he said.
Setka condemns members who take part in protests
CFMEU Victorian secretary John Setka said the union was “trawling” through footage on Facebook to identify members who took part in violent protests over the past few days.
“People that were involved in the violent protest, you know what, they might as well go and pick fruit in Mildura somewhere,” he said.
“They will not be working in our industry. We don’t need people like that.
“Our industry, we try and make it safe, we don’t need drunken morons who think that throwing bottles at people is a good way to protest.”
Mr Setka said there had been talks about a handful of “critical infrastructure” jobs being exempt from the two-week construction ban, but there were concerns about protesters targeting those sites.
“Some of these morons will probably go march on those jobs, put workers’ safety at risk,” he said.
He said no one, including CFMEU members, should be subjected to the behaviour seen on Tuesday.
Mr Setka also repeated claims he made earlier in the week that far-right groups were leading protests, rather than construction workers and CFMEU members.
Claims of far-right element hijacking protests
The union’s national secretary Dave Noonan told 7.30 “very few” CFMEU members were involved in Tuesday’s protests.
He said there was a “very clear” attempt by anti-vaccination groups and extreme right neo-Nazi groups to get massive demonstrations on Melbourne’s streets.
“It’s very important not to just frame this as an issue of CFMEU members or tradies, this is a bigger assault,” he said.
“You shouldn’t assume that it was construction workers or our members perpetrating all the violence, but there certainly were tradies and construction workers there.”
He said many people wearing high-vis clothing were not construction workers.
Mr Noonan said the announcement about mandatory vaccination for construction workers coming into effect on September 23 had created a “fertile environment for extremists to stir up concern and fear”.
“That’s been done and there has been a widespread and sophisticated social media campaign,” he said.
Mr Noonan said it was clear some construction sites had not been doing the right thing regarding COVID rules, which had led to spread, but that did not mean the entire industry had a problem.
He said in some instances many cases of COVID-19 had been linked to one or two sites, including a Box Hill construction site linked to more than 100 cases.
“We don’t think that the fact that one job contributed so many should be definitive of closing the industry down,” he said.
“But clearly there is some fatigue of people wearing masks, there is some carelessness. It’s just disappointing.”
Mr Noonan said there should be talks with the Victorian government about how to re-open the construction industry safely as soon as possibly.
