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as well you should be. I'm a long term melbourne resident: this was a photo my wife took at a similar time, in our local park in an almost adjacent suburb: ht

as well you should be. I'm a long term melbourne resident: this was a photo my wife took at a similar time, in our local park in an almost adjacent suburb: https://imgur.com/assTtuS https://imgur.com/assTtuS Whether the lockdowns are justified or not (I think it's complicated, sure, no one likes them but that doesn't mean they're not the right thing or on the alternative side that there haven't been mistakes in their implementation), there has been a coordinated attempt with protests recently attracting low thousands, but dwindling to hundreds in recent days. that video I believe is from St kilda, which a particular small group of protesters targeted on that day for their specific actions. this was day 5 or so of them effectively playing tag with police around the inner city. the rest of us have largely been getting on with our lives. the first video is from the cbd during similar actions, and while it's likely unjustified behaviour from police, it has to be taken in the context of an organised movement that has targeted and injured police in recent times, and an extreme right wing subset deliberately provoking and trying to get as much of a response from police as possible (they then film, edit and post things out of context)

solzh 5y ago
Your perception of normality has been hijacked. The rest of the world has accepted the virus will be endemic. They’re rolling back restrictions and learning to live with it. Melbourne will have spent 267 days in hard lockdown since March last year when restrictions are slated to be lifted. The painting of peaceful protestors as “extreme right wing” is disingenuous and uncivil behaviour.
quicklime 5y ago
Another Melburnian here, agree with what you’re saying. I’m surprised that so many people on HN have such a warped perspective on what’s going on here, and even when multiple people from Melbourne post in this thread about their own experience living here, they’re told that they’re misinformed. Yes there are problems in Australia, but it’s not about to become a facist state.
- throwawaythekey 5y ago
  I think it's obvious we're on the road to becoming a facist state. As you and your parent point out, the only difference between sitting peacefully in a park and having the police move you on (or at worst assault you) is the act of protesting. See this protest by healthcare workers earlier today https://twitter.com/7NewsMelbourne/status/1442370906001580035 https://twitter.com/7NewsMelbourne/status/144237090600158003...
  - ACow_Adonis 5y ago
    interesting that the health care protest is in the same park my picture further up the thread was in :) but I wouldn't say that's the only difference. indeed if anyone is still reading this, I'd say go look at the report linked above. the small healthcare protest this morning peacefully dispersed, but the end of the report contains footage of the group/protests that have been running organised skirmishes with police most of this week. that this group is out there organising mobile/running protests on telegram and the like (the groups were public and they were livestreaming as they did so if you want to know how I know) is a pretty important context for police actions right now. additional context is that protests (and subsequent police presence) has historically been a relatively common thing in Melbourne, and obviously the current context additionally involves movement restrictions and gathering in group restrictions that have been put in place until the vaccine has been rolled out. current evidence suggests we are primarily supply constrained ATM in Australia/Victoria relative to absolute demand, and the government has announced targets and timelines for removing these restrictions once the people who want vaccines have recieved them. Australia lacks an explicit freedom/liberal philosophy, and it's certainly been the case that authoritarian aspects have increased recently, but it seems like a stretch to say that we're currently on a march to fascism. especially given the additional subtlety that what little fascist movements there have been in Australia are paradoxically aligned with the current protesters. to paraphrase a quote from one of the protesting live streamer: "look at the police trying to stop peaceful protests. all we want to do is overthrow this government!" in that sense there's a lot of commonality/overlap between the current protesters and the Trump movement. And another additional context of interest is the number of members on the twittersphere commenting on all this who are clearly Americans or aligned with American politics/media rather than locals. It's bizarre in that there's even been Trump flag wavers at some of the protests :/

solzh 5y ago

Your perception of normality has been hijacked. The rest of the world has accepted the virus will be endemic. They’re rolling back restrictions and learning to live with it. Melbourne will have spent 267 days in hard lockdown since March last year when restrictions are slated to be lifted. The painting of peaceful protestors as “extreme right wing” is disingenuous and uncivil behaviour.

quicklime 5y ago

Another Melburnian here, agree with what you’re saying. I’m surprised that so many people on HN have such a warped perspective on what’s going on here, and even when multiple people from Melbourne post in this thread about their own experience living here, they’re told that they’re misinformed. Yes there are problems in Australia, but it’s not about to become a facist state.

throwawaythekey 5y ago
I think it's obvious we're on the road to becoming a facist state. As you and your parent point out, the only difference between sitting peacefully in a park and having the police move you on (or at worst assault you) is the act of protesting. See this protest by healthcare workers earlier today https://twitter.com/7NewsMelbourne/status/1442370906001580035 https://twitter.com/7NewsMelbourne/status/144237090600158003...
- ACow_Adonis 5y ago
  interesting that the health care protest is in the same park my picture further up the thread was in :) but I wouldn't say that's the only difference. indeed if anyone is still reading this, I'd say go look at the report linked above. the small healthcare protest this morning peacefully dispersed, but the end of the report contains footage of the group/protests that have been running organised skirmishes with police most of this week. that this group is out there organising mobile/running protests on telegram and the like (the groups were public and they were livestreaming as they did so if you want to know how I know) is a pretty important context for police actions right now. additional context is that protests (and subsequent police presence) has historically been a relatively common thing in Melbourne, and obviously the current context additionally involves movement restrictions and gathering in group restrictions that have been put in place until the vaccine has been rolled out. current evidence suggests we are primarily supply constrained ATM in Australia/Victoria relative to absolute demand, and the government has announced targets and timelines for removing these restrictions once the people who want vaccines have recieved them. Australia lacks an explicit freedom/liberal philosophy, and it's certainly been the case that authoritarian aspects have increased recently, but it seems like a stretch to say that we're currently on a march to fascism. especially given the additional subtlety that what little fascist movements there have been in Australia are paradoxically aligned with the current protesters. to paraphrase a quote from one of the protesting live streamer: "look at the police trying to stop peaceful protests. all we want to do is overthrow this government!" in that sense there's a lot of commonality/overlap between the current protesters and the Trump movement. And another additional context of interest is the number of members on the twittersphere commenting on all this who are clearly Americans or aligned with American politics/media rather than locals. It's bizarre in that there's even been Trump flag wavers at some of the protests :/