Melbourne protests LIVE Daniel Andrews condemns demonstrations as police brace for more violence

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Protesters are still making their way through the city, setting of flares outside the Queen Victoria Market.

Erin Pearson, one of the reporters for The Age on the scene, says police have closed nearby streets in an effort to contain them.

Our journalists say smaller bands of protesters have been joining a main group of demonstrators that has been walking through the city.

The number of protesters appears to be in the hundreds, so far, significantly fewer than yesterday’s numbers of between 1,000 and 2,000 people.

As of 12.57pm, the crowd continues to move, heading back into the heart of the city down Swanston Street.

Victoria’s deputy premier James Merlino described the protesters as thugs and thanked police for doing their job.

Mr Merlino is addressing the state’s daily COVID-19 press conference at the moment.

“Make no mistake, this is thuggery, this is criminal behaviour and will be responded to accordingly by Victoria Police who are doing an exceptional job,” Mr Merlino said.

“On behalf of all Victorians, our thanks and gratitude to our Victoria Police members who put themselves at risk.“

Mr Merlino said the group were not protesters, but criminals. While there were some construction workers, there were also members of far-right groups, he said.

Mr Merlino said the construction shutdown was tough, but necessary.

“The number of cases, the transmission, the non-compliance, had to be address,” he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews told media earlier this morning there were 350 cases of COVID-19 across 150 different sites last month and this month.

Riot police have begun moving towards a group of protesters, marching south along Elizabeth Street as the small group of protesters retreats.

Aerial footage showed officers hurling projectiles in the direction of the protesters and taking in two women who stood in their path.

The protest itself is a moving beast, with demonstrators moving through the city including down Flinders Street.

There have been reports of police using non-lethal force to disperse the groups this morning, while the protesters have set off flares and blocked traffic.

Yesterday, when the numbers swelled to between 1,000 and 2,000 protesters, police fired rubber pellets, smoke rounds, foam baton rounds and pepper balls.

Police are moving through the city streets, stalking small groups of protesters.

Sirens are ringing through the city streets as police run from street corner to corner.

Channel Nine reporter Christine Ahern is watching a group of protesters march down Russell Street.

Ahern told radio station 3AW said there appears to be two groups of protesters making their way through the city.

The second group was also seen walking down Lonsdale Street.

Crime reporter for The Age Erin Pearson was there as police converged on Carlton gardens as well, just north of the city, where one arrest was made.

Rewinding to a little earlier this morning, Victorian construction union boss John Setka has vowed to kick those who participate in violent protests out of the industry.

Mr Setka, CFMEU state secretary, said union staff have been trawling through CCTV and other footage on social media to identify construction workers who attacked its Melbourne headquarters on Monday.

Tempers fray outside the Melbourne office of the CFMEU on Monday.Credit:Chris Hopkins

“Let me tell you, people that were involved in the violent protest, they may as well go pick fruit in Mildura somewhere because they will not be working in our industry. We don’t need people like that,” he told ABC radio this morning.

“Our industry, we try and make it safe. We don’t need morons, drunken morons that think by throwing bottles at people, it’s a good way to protest. They can go somewhere else.”

The citywide protests were sparked when government shut the building industry for a fortnight on Monday night after a day of unprecedented and violent demonstration at the union’s head office in Elizabeth Street.

Windows were smashed, projectiles were thrown at senior officials and riot police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Also on radio this morning, Mr Setka denied he was subservient to Premier Daniel Andrews, saying he had never even met or spoken with the Mr Andrews, and did not have his phone number.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has slammed the anti-vaccine mandate protests in Melbourne.

“The protests are very concerning and that is unacceptable behaviour and particularly at a time when those in Victoria are dealing with lockdowns and many other stresses this is very concerning,” Mr Morrison said, speaking from Washington, D.C. where he is meeting world leaders.

He said he understood concern about the shutdown of the Victorian construction industry, but pointed out NSW had implemented similar restrictions and vaccine mandates on its building sector, which did not trigger violent protests.

“These are important jobs and they will return. We will get through this but protest activity and what we have seen there is highly distressing and that is not an appropriate response to trying to deal with an outbreak of this nature,” he said.

He said assistance payments were available to people out of work as a result of the pandemic.

Riot police have begun to converge on the city to block city streets.

Crime reporter Erin Pearson is on the scene and says hundreds of police have blocked Elizabeth Street near the Queen Victoria Market.

No protesters are in sight at that location as of 10.50am.

While the public order response team stand in formation across Elizabeth Street, near Therry Street, more officers are arriving on buses and the police helicopter is hovering overhead.

Police are checking permits and essential workers can pass through.

Riot police block Elizabeth Street.Credit:Erin Pearson

Police have already made arrests ahead of the protest kicking-off, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent told radio station 3AW a short time ago.

“There’s been a couple of arrests so far,” Deputy Commissioner Nugent said.

Police detain a man at the corner of Elizabeth and Victoria streets near the CFMEU head office.Credit:Darrian Traynor/Getty

Crime reporter Erin Pearson is on the scene and said the arrests occurred on the corner of Therry and Elizabeth streets.

While the protests have not yet started, Mr Nugent said police were still expecting it to occur.

Mr Nugent said police were checking the identification of people coming into the city, letting people through who had work in the CBD.

Victorian Trades Hall secretary and prominent Melbourne unionist Luke Hilakari was speaking on Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise earlier this morning.

As previously reported, the construction union is against mandatory vaccination. However, it is encouraging members to speak to their doctor.

“I would say to every tradie that is listening right now, go and get a vaccination,” Mr Hilakari said.

“It is the number one thing you can do to keep your workplace, your family and your friends are safe. Think about everyone else working on that frontline, including nurses, we all have a healthcare worker in the family. I certainly do, she is my mum. Think of them.“

Mr Hilakari also stressed that yesterday’s protesters do not represent the majority of unionists, let alone construction workers.

“When we think of the construction industry in Victoria, what we would have seen on Monday is maybe about 200 to 300 construction union members here out of an industry of 300,000. It is such a small minority that are upset.”

Mr Andrews was asked whether, given the 337 cases across the construction industry, it should have been shut down earlier.

“That’s a very important point,” Mr Andrews said.

“I don’t know whether it would have been a significant difference, we don’t know that. What we can focus on now is what we can change, is to get people vaccinated to get the industry back open. And follow the rules at building sites large and small.

“And the reports that we had been getting are very significant issues of non-compliance, people just not taking those safety rules seriously. And the thing about it - that’s a matter of fatigue.

“Safety is a very serious cultural issue in a broader sense on every building site. So it speaks to fatigue, I think, and speaks to those sort of issues but we can’t allow ourselves to be fatigued.

“We need to get through this, get vaccinated and do it and get every industry open. We’re so, so close. We’re so close to being able to end this lockdown and put this behind us.

“We just got to focus on that on getting vaccinated not on being violent. That achieves nothing. It doesn’t work against this virus.”

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