Subscriber • Opinion

'There'll be a knock on the door': How anti-vax protests become radical anti-government movements

By Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett
Updated February 12 2022 - 4:06pm, first published February 11 2022 - 4:05pm
Thousands of people marched towards Parliament House on Saturday, with many in the crowd chanting "Sack them all". Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong
Thousands of people marched towards Parliament House on Saturday, with many in the crowd chanting "Sack them all". Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong

Two weeks since the arrival of the so-called "Freedom Convoy" in Canberra, the specific goals of the movement remain somewhat elusive. Ostensibly focused on vaccine mandates, the protests have taken place vast distances from the legislatures which enacted those mandates (and have the power to repeal them). Convoy participants have behaved in ways that cannot be explained solely by a focus on mandates - from demanding Canberra locals remove their masks, to protesting hubs for voluntary vaccinations, to replacing the Australian flags at Government House with those of the merchant navy.

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