Lockdown protestors defy COVID-19 restrictions to gather in Benalla on Sunday

Just before 10am a small group of four or five protestors were gathered by Lake Benalla.

As more people joined some told protestors they had just arrived from Geelong, another man explained it was his first time in Benalla.

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Some protestors were remarking how they never use a QR code or sign into businesses and gained praise from others in their group for their stance.

A woman walking past with friends asked what was happening, and when told of the protest asked the group to stay away from her.

She was met by heckling, with protestors shouting at her, calling her Karen, telling her to go away and that they were protesting for her.

She simply walked away.

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Posters had gone up around Benalla last week promoting the protest, which was endorsed by A Stand in the Park — a nationwide movement against COVID-19 restrictions.

However, protest organiser Mike Larkin said the protest in Benalla was not officially run by A Stand in the Park and he had organised it himself, as it is his legal right.

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“This protest is driven by the current lockdown,” Mr Larkin said.

“(We) have a deep conviction, as well as supporting facts, about . . . what I would call an atrocity of the attempt to vaccinate everyone with an untested and . . . death causing vaccine.

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“Nearly all (my information) comes from medical and health experts (and) qualified scientific doctors.”

Mr Larkin said the aim of the protest was to disseminate information.

“And (to explain why) there is misinformation, which is that facts and information against the mainstream narrative has been censored, particularly on Facebook, and in mainstream media in general,” he said.

“You find that people who try to promote the truth on Facebook will be banned for a month.

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“When you watch the news on TV there is plenty of information about whatever reinforces the message about vaccine necessity and virtually no information about adverse effects and deaths from the vaccine.”

Mr Larkin described the government response to the pandemic as having a hidden agenda.

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“According to a recent survey of people who caught (COVID-19) it was not much worse than a bad cold,” he said.

“So there is this exaggeration of what is virtually no worse than an annual flu, or a bad flu, that leads to the perception that there is something really very wrong behind the drive to virtually force this vaccine upon people.”

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Mr Larkin said he believed the government was also suppressing the actual recognised treatment for COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine.

“Hydroxychloroquine was a recognised treatment. Why were proven treatments taken off the market?" Mr Larkin said.

AMCAL Benalla pharmacist Matthew Crittenden said some of the points Mr Larkin made were correct, but missed a lot of information, and some points were incorrect.

“The COVID-19 vaccines are optional, people can choose not to have one,” Mr Crittenden said.

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“And the vaccines available in Australia have been tested.

“From my understanding there is no long term, or post marketing research which has been done yet.

“The reason for that is obviously we can't look at long-term effects as the vaccines are relatively new

“But they are tested in labs and with computer modelling from my understanding.”

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With regards to Mr Larkin's point about people saying they found COVID-19 to be similar to a bad cold or flu, Mr Crittenden said that was the case with many people who got infected.

“The effects can also be quite severe and someone who contracts COVID-19 could end up being in ICU needing a ventilator,” he said.

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“The effects can range from being a-symptomatic, to being on a ventilator or even dying.

“So what he said is correct, but it's not the whole story, he is missing 19 out of 20 chapters.

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“And there are also lots of variables like age, for example. Younger people tend to be less impacted by COVID-19

“However, the new variants are possibly proving otherwise.”

With regards to Hydroxychloroquine, Mr Crittenden said it was not a recognised treatment for COVID-19

“And we dispense Hydroxychloroquine for people with arthritis at the moment, so it hasn't been supressed,” he said.

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Another protestor, who asked to be identified as ‘'Warrior'’, said he believed protesting was necessary to "shine a light on the truth about the false imprisonment of the whole population of Australia".

“The Governor General, both state and federal have not declared a pandemic,” he said.

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“The lockdowns and restrictions should come to an end immediately.

“All the micro-biologists, virologists and experts around the world say that this is totally bogus and a scam.”

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This information is incorrect, and when asked what weight he puts on information shared by experts that state there is a global pandemic, Warrior simply said he does not believe them.

“Are you aware that the so called COVID virus has over 70 patents since 2003?" Warrior said.

“This was planned years ago by the World Economic Forum and they plan a reset because certain people are not happy with the way the world is run and they want to take total control.”

Some people online have expressed confusion as to how medical patents for coronavirus had been in place for some years, despite the COVID-19 pandemic only beginning at the end of 2019.

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The reason for this is there are different coronaviruses. Similarly to how there are different influenza viruses.

COVID-19 is an amalgamation of the words Coronavirus Disease 2019, and it relates to the outbreak that occurred in 2019.

Coronaviruses, however, had existed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“From a biblical point of view Revelations 13, 16 and 17 says in the last days you won't be able to buy or sell unless you receive a mark,” Warrior said.

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“I believe that the mark today is the vaccine. Why are they pushing a vaccine that doesn’t prevent transmission and doesn’t prevent you getting COVID?”

With regards to his assertation that no Australian government has declared a pandemic — this is incorrect.

Federal Government website aph.gov.au stated on March 18, 2020 that the Governor General of Australia declared that a human bio-security emergency was present in Australia.

That same website states that the Victorian Government released a pandemic plan on March 10, 2020.

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With regards to his comments that the vaccine does not prevent transmission, or prevent a person from contracting COVID-19, Mr Crittenden said he was also incorrect.

“I believe that mask wearing and lockdowns have worked well,” Mr Crittenden said.

“They have been effective as they have got the numbers back down to zero and we have been able to get back to normal at times.

“My advice is to get the vaccine, but everyone has their own choice.

“And as long as each person makes an informed decision, my advice is to get the vaccine.”

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