Bit of a thread of this weeks #MurdochRiots events and what happened today.
On Monday a small protest outside CFMEU was quickly capitalised on by far right groups who'd for months hooked their fangs into union members with a goal to turn them against their own.
On Monday a small protest outside CFMEU was quickly capitalised on by far right groups who'd for months hooked their fangs into union members with a goal to turn them against their own.
Far right agitators suspiciously arrived on scene within minutes and things rapidly descended into violence, with the group violently attacking CFMEU offices and a dog being walked by a passerby. CFMEU members held off the mob until police arrived. 
On Tuesday, groups again assembled, this time meeting in much larger numbers and walking to Parliament where a brief but tense standoff with police took place, before the group abruptly left, walking blocks around the city before ending it in shame on the Westgate.
On Wednesday the group again met, in smaller numbers, and headed to the Shrine of Remembrance where they got drunk, yelled hysterical conspiracy theories, urinated, smashed glass and became violent. Police gave safe passage to leave, but many rejected the offer and were arrested.
On Thursday, after a few days of chanting "every day" the group had burned out, but pledged Friday was "the big one," the "showstopper". A handful of people did manage to shut down vaccine hubs by assaulting health workers. The riots had become known as "The Murdoch Riots."
On Thursday night Telegram lit up with promotion of Friday's event, with chatter that this would be "the big one" — many said they knew people who'd skipped the first ones but would be there Friday. There were even pledges to damage the Shrine, a real showstopper.
On Friday morning there was real buzz around the threat of riots and it seemed almost certain that Melbourne would again unwillingly suffer our worst fools for a day. Rioters were to meet at 10AM, however 10AM came and went with rioters failing to show.
Right wing activist "Rukshan", whose crafty camera work has made him a hit with rioters, wandered the CBD for two hours in search of something to show his audience. During this time, riot group Telegram chats descended into chaos.
Members shared ideas but could not agree on a meeting place, were growing extremely distrustful of one another and, as paranoia took hold, turned on each other. To make matters worse, unbeknownst to them, their comms were being streamed in real time to thousands on Twitch.
It wasn't long before Reddit & Twitch users got into the Telegram groups, spamming them to the point where the groups were completely unable to communicate. Unable to coordinate, the groups were left leaderless, isolated, frustrated and unable to trust anyone.
Throughout the day, individual live streamers tried in vain to get things moving, but the tone shifted to post mortem quickly, with a few figures giving their bad takes on what went wrong. Leaders completely deserted their troops. But there'd be one last stand.
Later in the afternoon, a small group at Northcote Plaza tried one last time to get things going. Their desperation was clear as they flailed in vain. Struggling to accept defeat, they briefly pushed on... only to be shut down by police minutes later.
https://twitter.com/PRGuy17/status/1441253328021639171
Last one standing, Bunnings Karen, live streamed her attempt to convince a random school kid about a range of extreme conspiracy theories on vaccines. She then chased media who wouldn't speak to her and ended on a grassy knoll interviewing fellow Qarens.
https://twitter.com/PRGuy17/status/1441274686344601605
All in all, solid policing, some brilliant community collaboration and intervention led to a catastrophic humiliation for far right groups, and an unforgettable day of riotous laughter and entertainment for many Victorians and fellow Australians.
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