“This is really a group of rightwing extremists who have really tried to decide to divide the community when we are in immense strain and under immense pressure through the health crisis due to Covid, but also with people who are understandably upset, rattled, and over repeated lockdowns,” he said.Įlise Thomas, an analyst and researcher for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue who specialises in misinformation, said anti-lockdown groups were clearly taking a lead on Tuesday. The national secretary of the CFMEU construction and general division, Dave Noonan, told the ABC on Tuesday hi-vis gear was being handed out to people to make them look like construction workers. Unfortunately, that’s what some of these extremists are doing.” “People can either take a role which is about uniting people and getting us through to the other side, or they can go about sowing lies and hate and division. “What they’re doing is jumping on it to cause division and, in the end, that’s going to lead to a situation that we’ll be in lockdown longer,” she said. The Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Sally McManus, said the protest had been “called for, led, and promoted” by anti-vaccination and far-right groups. But when the protesters returned on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, shut down the sector for two weeks, it was unclear who had organised the protest, and who was joining it.

Victoria 2 fascist flags