The violent rhetoric and symbols on display at the #pandemic law protests in #Melbourne are incredibly concerning. I hope that Australia doesn’t make the same mistake as the USA. Peaceful protest is right in a democracy - but threatening violence is not. 1/5
There is a lot that can be said about the diverse composition of the protests, their grievances, the no good pandemic legislation & the heavy handed pandemic approach by #VicGovt that drove people to protest, but first and foremost we must condemn this violence because … 2/5
there is only one way this goes - and it’s not anywhere good. The menace on display will metastasis if it’s not triaged. Even if a limited component of the overall protests were using violent symbols and rhetoric it’s enough to be of concern. 3/5
It’s been said before but it’s worth repeating. The Capitol riots were an antecedent and storming of various US state capital buildings precursors to that. Menace, threats of violence will become real if not rebuked. 4/5
Politicians flirting with these movements without unequivocally condemning the violence are only serving to stoke & legitimise it. #auspol 5/5
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