Charges against organisers of Melbourne’s Black Lives Matter march to be dropped | epearson_3
Organisers of a Black Lives Matter rally held in Melbourne during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions will no longer face prosecution, with all charges against them expected to be dropped by Victoria Police.
“The Victorian government presents itself as a progressive government committed to addressing past and ongoing violence against First Nations peoples through various initiatives, while at the same time trying to silence the voices who have had enough of our people dying in custody and who demand change,” they said.
The Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020 attracted about 10,000 people despite lockdown restrictions.“We are unable to comment while the matters are currently before the court other than to confirm that Victoria Police has advised us that the charges against Dr McKinnon and Ms Onus will be withdrawn,” he said.
The organisers said precautions were taken during the rally to ensure it was safe, with face masks and sanitiser provided.Organisers said the rally was intended to highlight systemic racism and Aboriginal deaths in custody and mirrored similar marches across the world following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
There were 74 active cases of COVID-19 in the state that day. On Tuesday – more than two years later – Department of Health data showed there were 49,253 cases of COVID-19 in Victoria., McKinnon and Onus said that at the time of the rally, pandemic restrictions allowed public gatherings in the case of an emergency, and they maintained that the rate at which First Nations people continued to die in custody constituted a national emergency.
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