Victoria Police Sacrificing Officers
The truth about the Melbourne Freedom Protest on Saturday is that the Victoria Police command wanted the rookie officers blocking the bridge at Victoria Street Richard to be overwhelmed and their line broken. They were expecting the crowd to push through them and it would make the police look like poor victims being tread on by the protestors.
It was a perfect opportunity for the mainstream media to snap photos of the poor police. The police had plenty of time to get officers to the bridge, even to bring in the riot squad, they had buses, they had ariel footage from a helicopter, they knew the crowd was heading there in fact they blocked the intersection in Kew thus forcing the protesters to head to the bridge. There was all the time they needed to build a proper barrier but they didn’t.
They didn’t send enough officers there on purpose and we all have to think ‘why block the bridge anyway?’ There was no point in that move. Let the crowd walk back into Richmond if you didn’t have enough officers to stop them, why bother trying to block the bridge at all? Don’t send a small crew that’s just graduated from the Police Academy that week and this is their first shift. That’s dangerous.
But they did and I know why. They never take on a crowd unless they have enough numbers, it’s an officer safety issue. But these poor rookie officers were thrown under the bus in their first week on the job and put into a situation the top brass knew was dangerous. This mistake wasn’t a mistake.
In each protest I’ve been to I’ve seen Victoria Police intentionally do things so that the media can snap propaganda footage that makes the protesters look bad. This latest move by Victoria Police was a real clever one. They had the footage from up high as there is an above-ground footpath, they had media on it so that they could snap fantastic footage. Of course, when the news went to air across Australia this shot was the first shown. They pumped it all around the place.
I’m telling you the top brass are that shifty and they are willing to endanger the officers’ lives. Honestly, they are happy that six officers went to hospital, they needed that to happen in order for them to justify the thousands they spent on locking down the CBD for six hours including the public transport network just to stop protesters peacefully walking the streets.
They didn’t protect anyone or anything, they made it violent by trying to block a bridge that protesters had no other option but to go down. In fact, they probably also had agent provocateurs who egged on the crowd to be violent and push through the police line. Those rookie officers hurt should sue the police command who sent them to block the bridge. This is just more disgusting behaviour from Victoria Police.
All over the world, we can see footage from the Freedom Protests and no other governments abused the protesters like the Victoria Police did yesterday. Honestly, there were as many officers as protesters. They are making it a battle scenario.