Australian police exploit extreme right-wing, anti-vax rallies to deploy new repressive weaponry – WSWS
Utilising reactionary anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine rallies in Melbourne organised this week, police forces have unveiled an array of new weapons and equipment. This includes pepper ball firearms that shoot hard pellets the size of marbles, stinger grenades, and paramilitary-style vehicles and body armour.
As the World Socialist Web Site has previously outlined, the anti-vax protests have no legitimacy whatsoever. A small layer of construction workers appear to have been involved in one of the rallies on Tuesday outside the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) office (see Australian anti-vaccine, extreme right demonstrators target construction industry). Numbers of reports, however, point to the predominantly petty bourgeois layers involved in the other events, including small business owners and contractors.
Politically, the rallies are dominated and led by extreme right-wing libertarian and outright fascist individuals and organisations. Some of the administrators of Telegram accounts promoting and organising the protests have previously been exposed as admirers of Adolf Hitler. Supporters of the fascistic Proud Boys and the now defunct United Patriots Front have been involved in the rallies.
The police are exploiting widespread hostility towards the protests and their homicidal calls for an immediate end to lockdown measures as the pretext for trialling new weaponry and a massive state mobilisation.
Senior police previously expressed concern over how the population would respond to the use of new, so-called non-lethal weaponry.
In 2018, police put on a display of their enhanced firepower for selected journalists. The weapons included VKS Pepper Ball firearms, capable of firing blunt force pellets or dye markers to brand people for later arrest, baton round launchers capable of firing larger rubber or plastic bullets, stinger grenades that release nine rubber projectiles, and sound/flash bombs that release noise, light and smoke. This was accompanied by new body armour and paramilitary-style police vehicles.
An Age journalist noted at the time, we have been given a sneak preview of gear that looks more like Star Wars than regulation police equipment.
Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton declared: It is an ugly look to see police in riot gear in a suburban street. It will be confronting to watch. We now have some equipment that has not been seen before that may alarm people.
The Melbourne Activist Legal Support noted that the new weapons posed severe dangers.
Pepper Ball pellets, the organisation reported, can blind, maim and leave permanent injuries depending where they hit the body, while the baton round launcher has resulted in significant injuries and fatalities around the world, [including last year] a 25-year-old protester [who] was killed by a rubber bullet in Paraguay. In addition: The flash/noise distraction grenades designed to shock and disperse crowds are routinely being used in Israel/Palestine and other conflict zones and have maimed children, can burst ear drums and generate dangerous fear and panic in crowds.
For three years, this equipment has gone unused. Now, however, the anti-vaxxer rallies have provided the police with the hoped-for pretext.
The real target of the repressive build-up is not the extreme rightmany of the fascists enjoy close relations with sections of sympathising policebut the working class.
The state Labor governments bolstering of police powers and weaponry has always been driven by the fear of social unrest and working class and youth protest, fuelled by escalating social inequality and attacks on living standards and democratic rights. Labor Premier Daniel Andrews has boasted of his law and order credentials. In 2016, his state government committed an unprecedented $2 billion in additional spending to expand the police by 20 percent, with 3,100 more officers employed. The government has since boasted that its annual police spending is 35 percent higher than its Liberal predecessor.
The police operations against the anti-vax events represent a warning as to how the state is preparing to respond to a genuine movement of the working class in defence of its independent interests.
Numerous acts of police violence were recorded by witnesses and uploaded to social media. This included the gratuitous use of pepper spray on already restrained people, indiscriminate firing of plastic pellets, and one incident in which a person speaking with officers at Flinders train station was grabbed from behind by another cop without warning and body and head slammed into the concrete floor.
In another incident, a passer-by who was not involved in the right-wing protests recorded three masked men wearing khaki-coloured armour emerge from an unmarked car and aggressively force a person to the ground. These were members of the Special Operations Group police branch, an elite unit usually reserved for counter-terrorist responses and incidents involving firearms or explosives.
The confrontation recalled the police-state operations coordinated by US President Donald Trump in the final weeks of his presidency, including having unidentified police in Portland hauling protestors into unmarked vans for interrogation.
In another precedent-setting move, on Wednesday the police had the Civil Aviation Safety Authority declare central Melbourne a no-fly zone. This aimed at preventing the broadcast of aerial footage of the anti-vax rallies. Police later permitted overhead media coverage, but insisted that video broadcasts from helicopters be delayed by at least an hour so that live police operations were not visible to protestors. The ban on live overhead coverage was subsequently overturned by the Federal Court.
Sign up for the WSWS email newsletter
Read the original post:
Australian police exploit extreme right-wing, anti-vax rallies to deploy new repressive weaponry - WSWS
- Chapter 6: Friedrich Hayek - the archetypal libertarian - Great Economists, The [Book] - O'Reilly Media - May 19th, 2025 [May 19th, 2025]
- LNC Chair Response to Trump "Over-criminalization of Federal Regulations" EO - Libertarian Party - May 15th, 2025 [May 15th, 2025]
- Feminist reformer Beatrice Faust was a sexual libertarian who did her homework, kept her cool and criticised wimp feminism - The Conversation - May 11th, 2025 [May 11th, 2025]
- The Worst Parts of Trump's First 100 Days Involved Ignoring Libertarian Principles - Reason Magazine - April 30th, 2025 [April 30th, 2025]
- Libertarian candidate's vote getting in 2023 didn't revive the party in Vanderburgh County - Courier & Press - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Chile Has Its Own Milei, and the Libertarian Is Just as Radical - Bloomberg.com - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- 'Bizarre in many ways': Libertarian reveals whats behind far rights 'war on empathy' - AlterNet - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Goodbye, zoning? Arkansas could be the guinea pig for a libertarian plan to kneecap city government - Arkansas Times - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Milei's small libertarian party is in a minority in Congress but has formed ad hoc alliances to push through its cost-cutting agenda - Islander... - March 25th, 2025 [March 25th, 2025]
- Will Congress Ever Take The Libertarian Win And Embrace Automatic Shutdown? - Forbes - March 13th, 2025 [March 13th, 2025]
- State of the Union Response - Libertarian Party - March 11th, 2025 [March 11th, 2025]
- Libertarian Party of Georgia Hosts Annual Convention This Weekend - The Citizen.com - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Taibbi: Surprising And Wonderful To See Libertarian Consensus Forming In Washington On Free Speech - RealClearPolitics - March 3rd, 2025 [March 3rd, 2025]
- What Is the American Libertarian Movement? - Cato Institute - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- Libertarian reacts to DOGE cuts and discusses how to reduce the size of government - WXXI News - March 1st, 2025 [March 1st, 2025]
- A Libertarian Island Dream in Honduras Is Now an $11 Billion Nightmare - Bloomberg - February 14th, 2025 [February 14th, 2025]
- DeepSeek: a wound to the ideological pride of Trump and Musk's libertarian doctrine - AgendaPublica - February 1st, 2025 [February 1st, 2025]
- Ross Ulbricht: The Greatest Victory of the Libertarian Movement - The American Conservative - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Angela McArdle: What Role Did the Libertarian Party Play in Freeing Ross Ulbricht? - Reason - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Is Trump the most libertarian president ever? Left and Right alike misunderstood his worldview - UnHerd - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- Its a Weird Time to Be a Libertarian - The New Republic - January 9th, 2025 [January 9th, 2025]
- British politicians are turning me into a libertarian - The Critic - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Our Libertarian moment is coming. Why opposition will weather it better | Opinion - The Topeka Capital-Journal - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Libertarian Populism Killed the Spending Bill - The American Conservative - December 22nd, 2024 [December 22nd, 2024]
- Analysis | Will Trump have a Libertarian in his Cabinet? - The Washington Post - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Reports of the NC Libertarian Partys death have been exaggerated - Carolina Journal - December 18th, 2024 [December 18th, 2024]
- Time Reflects the Revolution of Libertarian Liberalism: Trump and Milei on the Global Stage - InfoNegocios Miami - December 14th, 2024 [December 14th, 2024]
- ARGT: Riding The Libertarian Wave Of Economic Revival - Seeking Alpha - December 12th, 2024 [December 12th, 2024]
- The Washington Post's Kate Cohen Discovers Inner Libertarian - RealClearMarkets - November 28th, 2024 [November 28th, 2024]
- Heres to hoping Trump delivers on some of his Libertarian promises - OCRegister - November 23rd, 2024 [November 23rd, 2024]
- Publish more libertarian and conservative voices, and more Cameron Smith columns | Letters - Tennessean - November 23rd, 2024 [November 23rd, 2024]
- Liberal, conservative and libertarian students discuss the state of the country after election - Wyoming Public Media - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Expecting pardon from Trump, libertarian writer pleads guilty in Capitol riot case - WUSA9.com - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- ITS BEEN THE HONOR OF MY LIFETIME TO BE THE LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT - Chase Oliver - November 14th, 2024 [November 14th, 2024]
- 2024 Election Wrap Up - Libertarian Party of Michigan - November 14th, 2024 [November 14th, 2024]
- RFK Jr., who dropped out of presidential race in August, received more votes in Alabama than Green Party, Libertarian Party combined - Yahoo! Voices - November 14th, 2024 [November 14th, 2024]
- Who is Chase Oliver? What to know about the Libertarian candidate appearing on US ballots - USA TODAY - November 8th, 2024 [November 8th, 2024]
- Colorado fights Libertarian Party lawsuit seeking hand count after leak of voting-machine passwords - Washington Times - November 8th, 2024 [November 8th, 2024]
- How the Libertarian presidential candidate could be a spoiler for Trump - Washington Examiner - November 8th, 2024 [November 8th, 2024]
- Excluding the Libertarian may have saved Miller-Meeks in IA-01 - Bleeding Heartland - November 8th, 2024 [November 8th, 2024]
- Who is Chase Oliver, Libertarian candidate garnering attention in the US elections? - Firstpost - November 8th, 2024 [November 8th, 2024]
- Colorado Libertarian Party calls for hand count in lawsuit over leaked voting-machine passwords - Washington Times - November 8th, 2024 [November 8th, 2024]
- Opinion: Masks are over, and so is the Libertarian Party in Indiana - IndyStar - October 31st, 2024 [October 31st, 2024]
- Mailer in CD-3 appears aimed at boosting Libertarian candidate - The Durango Herald - October 31st, 2024 [October 31st, 2024]
- Raw interview with Bernard Johnson, Libertarian candidate for U.S. Representative, District 19 - MyFoxZone.com KIDY - October 31st, 2024 [October 31st, 2024]
- Meet the Libertarian running for Congress in IN-3 - WANE - October 28th, 2024 [October 28th, 2024]
- Q&A: Gideon Oakes, Libertarian candidate for Public Utilities Commission - News From The States - October 16th, 2024 [October 16th, 2024]
- Libertarian Donald Rainwater thinks he can win it all in 2024 - WTHITV.com - October 9th, 2024 [October 9th, 2024]
- Libertarian Rainwater thinks he can win it all in 2024 - pharostribune.com - October 9th, 2024 [October 9th, 2024]
- Libertarian Donald Rainwater thinks he can win it all in 2024 - Chronicle-Tribune - October 9th, 2024 [October 9th, 2024]
- Harry Bronson, candidate for NYS Assembly; the state of the Libertarian party; How to make college more accessible: coming up on... - October 4th, 2024 [October 4th, 2024]
- Opinion | Vivek Ramaswamy Is No Friend of the Libertarian Movement - The Wall Street Journal - October 1st, 2024 [October 1st, 2024]
- Libertarian Party has the right platform to restore America -- Tim Johnson - Madison.com - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Lyon Countys current sheriff will appear on November ballot as Libertarian candidate - Dakota News Now - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- N.H. Libertarian Party encourages 'assassination' of Harris, drawing scrutiny from state, federal authorities - WBUR News - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Feds aware of' NH Libertarian Party's post glorifying killing of VP Harris - NBC Boston - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- N.H. Libertarian Party shares, deletes post on X endorsing the assassination of VP Harris - The Boston Globe - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Libertarian Party NH Posts Position on Political Assassinations - InDepthNH.org - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- New Hampshire Libertarian Party shares and deletes post that suggests assassinating Harris would be heroic - The Independent - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Lyon Countys current sheriff will appear on November ballot as Libertarian candidate - KTIV Siouxland's News Channel - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Libertarian Party of New Hampshires Post on X Urging Assassination of Harris Prompts Visit From FBI - The New York Sun - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Demands for investigation after NH Libertarian Party shares threatening Harris - AlterNet - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Libertarian candidates for Congress will not be on Iowa ballots after final court decision - KCRG - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Iowa Libertarian Party appeals to Supreme Court to have names on ballot - WHO TV 13 Des Moines News & Weather - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Newscast 9.12.2024: Libertarian congressional nominees won't be on Iowa ballots; College enrollments up at all 3 Iowa public universities &... - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Libertarian will run write-in campaign - Southeast Iowa Union - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- New IMF chief negotiators leave Libertarian gov't reassessing the turf - MercoPress - September 14th, 2024 [September 14th, 2024]
- Meet the gay, gun-toting libertarian whos giving Trump a run for his money in swing states - Reckon - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Libertarian candidates for Congress will not be on Iowa ballots after final court decision - WOWT - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Iowa Libertarian Congressional candidates say the race isnt over - KCRG - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Iowa Supreme Court: Libertarian candidates for Congress wont be on the ballot - The Gazette - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Libertarian candidates for Congress will be left off Iowa ballots after final court decision - Houston Chronicle - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Chase Oliver seeks to build Libertarian Party through White House run, targeting ballot access wins - 11Alive.com WXIA - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Iowa Supreme Court rules that Libertarian candidates can be kept off the ballot - The Center Square - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Libertarian candidates for Congress will be left off Iowa ballots after final court decision - The Caledonian-Record - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Libertarian Congressional Candidates Lose Bid To Be On Iowa Ballot - iHeart - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Iowa judge rules against putting Libertarian candidates on the ballot - ABC 6 News KAAL TV - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Iowa Supreme Court rejects Libertarian Party bid to appear on November ballot - kwwl.com - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Iowa judge rules against Libertarian candidates, keeping their names off the ballot for Congress - News-Press Now - September 12th, 2024 [September 12th, 2024]
- Iowa judge rules against Libertarian candidates, keeping their names off the ballot for Congress - The Associated Press - September 8th, 2024 [September 8th, 2024]