People who attended mass protests against police brutality risked wiping out Australia’s progress in combatting Covid-19, a top official has said, after that nation’s chief doctor had begged people not to assemble outside.
Those who have avoided large gatherings over the last months have done “the right thing,” Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack told Sky News Australia. At the same time, there were “tens of thousands of people absolutely flouting the social distancing laws, absolutely going against” what Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan Murphy had advised.
“It’s literally life and death,” McCormack said. He did add that it is too early to tell whether the protesters’ actions have sabotaged Canberra’s planned easing of the quarantine restrictions.
Crowds of protesters filled Australian cities over the weekend, with at least 20,000 rallying in Sydney alone. The demonstrators voiced solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the US, and drew attention to the cases of indigenous people who died in police custody in Australia. The rallies were part of global anti-police brutality and anti-racism protests, after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died during a chokehold arrest by a white officer in the US.
While the people wishing to exercise their right to protest may certainly be suspicious of the government telling them not to, this time the PM Scott Morrison has the scientists on his side. Chief Medical Officer Murphy has been warning that mass protests remain “inherently dangerous” due to the risk of the spread of Covid-19, even when participants try to follow social distancing rules and wear personal protective gear.
Australia has had a relatively low number of confirmed Covid-19 cases – 7,276 – and just 102 people have died, according to officials, who say they want the relatively mild outbreak stats to stay that way.
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