“Racist And False”: Warriors Of The Aboriginal Resistance Slam Police For Protest Comments
"There is no medical evidence linking the current spike in Melbourne to the BLM protest on June 6"
The Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance (WAR) have slammed NSW Police for linking outbreaks of COVID-19 in Melbourne to the Black Lives Matter protests, a day before another planned protest in Sydney.
“We refute the racist and false claims by NSW Police Commissioner, Michael Fuller, that the Melbourne BLM rally contributed to the current Melbourne COVID-19 spike; there is no medical evidence linking the current spike in Melbourne to the BLM protest on June 6,” the group said in a statement.
“In fact, there is no evidence of community transmission at any BLM protest across the country to date.
“WAR will continue to protest against the brutal murders and avoidable deaths of Aboriginal people in custody until our demands are met.”
Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance have released a statement supporting the organisers of Sydney’s Black Lives Matter protest. They have called the linking of Melbourne’s COVID-19 outbreak to the city’s BLM rally by NSW police ‘false and racist’ as there is still no evidence. pic.twitter.com/LWb3aAZ9oM
— Madeline Hayman-Reber (@MadelineHayman) July 27, 2020
Last week NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told 2GB radio a number of people at Melbourne’s protest were living in the “vertical towers” — a reference to the public housing towers that were placed under immediate hard lockdown earlier this month.
“Relying on some pretty good intelligence from Victoria, we know how dangerous these protests can be, in terms of health,” he said.
“At the moment you just can’t take chances.”
Firstly, to reiterate: health authorities have not found any link between protests and any community transmission of COVID-19.
However, yesterday Supreme Court Justice Mark Ierace referenced the risk of community transmission as a reason for their decision to side with police and grant a prohibition order for the rally, which leaves protesters open to being arrested or fined for breaching coronavirus restrictions on mass gatherings.
“That current assessment of the level of risk, in spite of relatively low numbers of community transmission, is consistent with New South Wales presently being on the knife edge of a further escalation in community transmission of the virus,” he said.
The organisers of tomorrow’s protest have said they will cancel tomorrow’s rally if the NSW Premier commits to asking for an investigation into the death of David Dungay Jr, who died in police custody in 2015.
In lieu of that, they’re are asking people to wear a mask, bring hand sanitiser and practice good hand hygiene, avoid public transport and social distance at all times.
They’re also collecting people’s details as part of a COVID-19 safety plan, in case they need to reach people later for contact tracing. Protesters can register by emailing [email protected], filling out an online form or scanning a QR code at the rally tomorrow.
If you are feeling unwell, stay home.