Protestors demonstrate in Australia’s Victoria State over pandemic bill

Protesters demonstrated across Australia on Saturday over pandemic restrictions, The New York Times reported.

One protest in front of the Victoria State Parliament in Melbourne took aim at a pandemic restrictions bill that could pass in December.

The bill aims to allow the state government to continue enforcing vaccine mandates, mask mandates and lockdowns past the emergency declaration deadline on Dec. 15. 

Protesters camped outside of the parliament building while lawmakers debated the bill, waving Australian flags and chanting “Kill the bill” and “No more mandates,” according to the Times.

The country’s Liberal Party and other legal rights groups have raised concerns about the scope of the bill.

Craig Kelly, a federal lawmaker who left the Liberal Party earlier this year after Prime Minister Scott Morrison accused him of spreading vaccine misinformation, spoke to a crowd of protesters on Saturday, according to the Times. 

“When we have governments that adopt vaccine passports, we’re no longer free,” he said. “We don’t live in a free society — we live in a prison camp.”

Some states in Australia have eased pandemic restrictions and allowed businesses to reopen, but only vaccinated individuals are allowed to enter these kinds of public spaces. 

Unvaccinated individuals can only go into some businesses if they are getting essential items.

Australians have sporadically pushed back against some of the world’s strictest pandemic lockdowns.

Australia as a whole has seen a large spike in COVID-19 cases during the month of October. In mid-October, the country’s seven-day average of new coronavirus cases was over 2,200. Times data shows that the cases have decreased in the month of November. 

This article was updated with corrections at 6:55 p.m. on Nov. 21.