Thousands of Australians take to the streets in protest of COVID-19 measures

Thousands of people marched to the streets of Australia on Saturday to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates, while smaller crowds rallied in favour of the policies that have helped Australia become one of the world's most immunized countries.

As of November 19, about 85% of Australians aged 16 and up were fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. While vaccinations are voluntary nationwide, many states and territories have mandated immunizations for various jobs and have prohibited unvaccinated people from participating in activities such as dining out and attending concerts.

Several thousand anti-vaccination protesters marched through the streets of central Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, chanting "freedom" and carrying placards calling to "fight tyranny" and proclaiming "unvaxxed lives matter," at a time when many families were enjoying the city's big department store's Christmas window displays.

There were also protests in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, with police watching the rallies closely and no immediate reports of unruly behaviour.

Australian journalist Dana Morse told Al Jazeera that Melbourne had endured the longest lockdown in the world.

“There are concerns among parts of the community about some pandemic management legislation that the state government is currently trying to pass through the upper house of parliament,” said Morse, who is based in Melbourne.

“That bill has stalled, but people are concerned about the amount of power that the state government will have if the bill passes.”

People are also protesting the “no jab no job” laws which mean people who are currently not vaccinated will not be able to continue working, she added.

The anti-vaccination demonstrations have been going on for weeks in Australia, becoming occasionally violent and attracting loose groups of citizens, as well as supporters of conspiracy theories and the far-right.

The anti-vaccination movement, however, remains small, with polls showing nationwide opposition in the single digits.

“We’re looking at a country that on the whole believes in the safety and efficacy of the vaccines when it comes to treating COVID-19,” Morse said.

“Even when you’re looking at protests of tens of thousands of people like we saw on the streets of Melbourne today – which is a city of five million people – we’re still talking about a minority but very vocal part of the population,” she said, referring to the protesters who were against the jabs.

A counter-rally of several hundred took place in Melbourne, organised by the Campaign Against Racism & Fascism group under the slogan of “Don’t scab, get the jab”.

One of the anti-fascist rally organisers, Nahui Jimenez, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) the demonstration was “a message of solidarity” with the country’s health workers.

“The majority of people support these health measures which actually have helped millions of people not get COVID,” she said.

The chief of the Australia Open tournament, the year’s first Grand Slam tennis tournament and one of Australia’s biggest sporting events, said on Saturday, that all players will have to be vaccinated to compete in the event, which takes place in Melbourne.

On Saturday, there were 1,166 new COVID-19 cases in the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is the capital. Five more people died. The most populous state of New South Wales, where nearly 92 percent of people are fully vaccinated, reported 182 new cases.

Despite the Delta outbreaks that led to months of lockdown in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia has had only about 760 confirmed cases and 7.5 deaths per 100,000 people, according to data from the World Health Organization, far lower than many other developed nations. The United Kingdom, for example, has had more than 14,000 confirmed cases and 211 deaths per 100,000 people.

Neighbouring New Zealand, which is also learning to live with the coronavirus through high vaccination rates, reported 172 new cases. As of Friday, 83 percent of the Pacific nation’s population have been fully vaccinated.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES