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Tony Abbott Defends Melbourne Protestors Who Rallied On The Shrine Of Remembrance

Tony Abbott Defends Melbourne Protestors Who Rallied On The Shrine Of Remembrance

The former Australian Prime Minister has criticised police for using rubber bullets and tear gas on the demonstrators.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Tony Abbott has voiced his support for the protestors who marched on Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance during a rally against lockdowns and mandatory vaccines.

Hundreds of demonstrators walked through the CBD last week to campaign against the new state government measures and wound up at one of the city's most sacred sites that honours the fallen soldiers of World War I.

While the protests started out as tradies angry over being forced to get the jab, it ended up being a multi-day rally that was hijacked by anti-lockdown, vaccine and far-right activists.

Riot police ended up using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the group after a lengthy standoff.

To make matters worse, authorities found urine at the Shrine during a massive clean up, which has horrified people all across the country.

However, former Prime Minister Abbott has actually turned his sights away from the protestors and instead has criticised Victoria Police.

During a chat on the Institute of Public Affairs Australia's Heartland podcast, My Abbott said: "Now look, I'm not an anti-vaxxer, although I think that people generally speaking have a right not to be vaccinated if that's their choice.

"Obviously people shouldn't break the law, but you've got people there at the Shrine of Remembrance with flags, with placards, to the best of my observation they were simply there to make a point.

"They weren't being violent, they weren't being vandalistic, they weren't being destructive.

Joshua Preston/Alamy

"I saw a lot of people who maybe were a little misguided, maybe were a little over the top, but I saw a lot of people there who are sick and tired of restrictions, which, frankly, are now becoming absolutely unreasonable.

"Then you had the Victorian Police lined up like storm troopers, eventually charging them with rubber bullets and tear gas.

"It was again a sign of the detachment of the union leadership from the people they are supposed to represent.

"That was a crowd of working people, now to some extent maybe they were misguided but they were ordinary working people who unions ignore at their peril."

Hundreds of people were arrested from those protests and many were criticised for their behaviour.

Premier Daniel Andrews revealed some vaccine healthcare staff were spat on by some of the protestors, which caused clinics to shut to ensure safety.

Featured Image Credit: REUTERS/Toby Melville

Topics: Australia