Australian ministers have condemned protestors who are demonstrating against coronavirus restrictions amid growing number of cases in the country.
Thousands of young people in Sydney on Saturday demanded the end of the coronavirus restrictions, with small protests happening in Melbourne and Brisbane.
Anti-Lockdown Protestors
An estimated 57 people who took part in the Sydney protest were charged, and more than 500 were fined.
On Sunday, New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian said protesters “should be ashamed”.
“Millions and millions of people across our state are doing the right thing, and it just broke my heart that people had such a disregard for their fellow citizens,” she told reporters.
New Delta Variant Cases
The state of NSW announced 141 new infections on Sunday, the second highest increase on a single day of the year. There are fears of an increase in cases following Saturday’s anti-lockdown protest.
NSW officials are expected to add to the current restrictions, which are expected to ease on July 30.
An estimated 13 million Australians have been under stay-at-home mandates after the country’s government restarted restrictions strategy to fight the Delta’s highly contagious variant, which has led to mini outbreaks across the country.
Slow Vaccination Rollout
Less than 14% of people are completely vaccinated, much lower than most European and American countries.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has receive lot of criticism for slow Australian immunization program and has promised higher number of jabs to be made available for NSW.
But he said they could not disrupt the nationwide vaccination campaign, and emphasized that the state ban on freely roaming outside would only end when it reduced the number of cases.
He also called those who took part in Saturday’s protests were “selfish” and “self-destructive”, saying the protests “pose a threat to the ongoing lockdowns to long laster.”
Sydney Police Department’s Update
Meanwhile, Sydney police announced on Sunday that two men had been charged with assaulting police horses during a protest.
A 33-year-old and 36-year-old man are set to appear in court today.
