MELBOURNE (Dispatches) – Thousands of anti-vax protesters took to the streets of Melbourne to rally against Covid-19 restrictions on Saturday as the state records 51,356 new infections.
Demonstrators gathered in Melbourne’s CBD on Saturday as part of the Save Our Children Protest against Covid-19 vaccines for children.
From Monday, children aged 5 to 11 will be eligible to receive their Covid-19 vaccination across Australia.
Victoria Police lined Parliament House steps as crowds gathered below while music blared on speakers.
Protesters braved rainy conditions to gather in the city at around midday, bearing signs reading ‘leave our children alone’ and ‘hands off our kids’.
Young children were also spotted in the crowd holding signs saying ‘children are not government experiments’.
Crowds marched from Parliament House to Alexandra Gardens chanting ‘save our children’ and ‘no more mandates’ to the sound of beating drums.
Meanwhile, anti-vaccine protesters rallied in cities across France on Saturday, denouncing President Emmanuel Macron’s intent to “piss off” people refusing COVID-19 shots by tightening curbs on their civil liberties.
Macron said this week he wanted to irritate unvaccinated people by making their lives so complicated they would end up getting jabbed. Unvaccinated people were irresponsible and unworthy of being considered citizens, he added.
In Paris, protesters retorted by adopting his slangy wording, chanting “We’ll piss you off.”
Others carried signs saying “No to the vaccine pass,” a reference to Macron’s legislative push to require proof of vaccination to enter venues such as cafes, bars and museums.
TV images showed skirmishes between protesters and police at one site. Protesters also rallied through the streets in Marseille, Nantes and Le Mans among other cities.
“(Macron’s remarks) were the last straw. We are not irresponsible,” said hospital administrator Virginie Houget, who has avoided a mandatory vaccine order for health workers because she caught Covid-19 late last year.
The protesters accuse Macron of trampling on their freedoms and treating citizens unequally. He says freedoms carry responsibilities that include protecting the health of others.
France recorded more than 300,000 new coronavirus infections for the second time in a week on Friday. Hospitalizations, including COVID-19 patients in intensive care (ICU), are rising steadily, putting the healthcare system under strain.
In Magdeburg, Germany, also Covid skeptics rallied for a “mega-demonstration” against plans for mandatory vaccinations and tightening coronavirus restrictions. The police arrested some of the participants.