WA Police Commissioner slams Scott Morrison’s call for protesters to be charged
Western Australia Police Commissioner Chris Dawson has slammed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s call for officers to arrest and charge future Black Lives Matter protesters.
WA Premier Mark McGowan called on organisers to postpone a rally planned for Saturday at Perth’s Langley Park, saying it could lead to new COVID-19 outbreaks in the community.
Speaking to 3AW, Morrison said police should charge anyone caught breaking social distancing rules at future protests.
“People wanting to take [the protests] further this weekend are showing a great disrespect to their fellow Australians,” he said.
Asked if police should charge protesters, Morrison said: “I think they should, I mean, I really do think they should, because you can’t have a double standard here.”
The prime minister’s comments came hours before Victorian authorities announced a man who attended a rally in Melbourne had tested positive for COVID-19.
Doctors said the man might have been infectious at the march, but was unlikely to contract the virus there, the ABC reported.
But Dawson said he “did not take orders” from the prime minister.
“There are hundreds of police that will be on duty,” Dawson told reporters on Thursday morning.
“[Protesters] know the deterrent is there.”
He said fines were “a possibility”.
“I can’t wrap a Superman cape around myself and issue 10,000 infringements, I’d run out of infringement books,” Dawson said.
“We will be there and we will be ensuring people’s safety.”
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said the protest organised for Friday evening would be unauthorised due to inadequate paperwork.
“We know that the organisers can’t control the numbers. We know that they can’t meet the health obligations that are in place for everyone else,” Fuller told 2GB.
“We will start writing tickets of $1,000 and we can use all of our powers to move people on and if you don’t move on well then you’ll be arrested.”
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said anyone who breached public health orders should face fines.
“Whatever action people take outside the health order has consequences … in terms of what is acceptable within the law.”
The Australian protests against Indigenous incarceration rates and deaths in custody are part of worldwide demonstrations sparked by the killing of US black man George Floyd by police on May 25.