The Lady in Red (Sep 18: Freedom Rally, Melbourne)

“I’m not going to run anymore.”

September 18, 2021. Worldwide Freedom Rally in Melbourne.

New and unseen footage emerges of the senior citizen lady pushed over by police and then pepper-sprayed at point-blank range.

After the initial group walked down Bridge Road in Richmond, they were "kettled" by police on a side street. 'Kettling' is a relatively new police tactic of surrounding a group of protestors and forcing them into a very confined space, before arresting them as was witnessed on Cup Day in November 2020, Melbourne, when 400 mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers and minors were surrounded and all arrested, one by one over a number of hours.
The ’lady in red’ went with the main group who were once again kettled on Barkers Road in Kew. Rather than being kettled, a number of individuals broke the rear kettle line. Some officers were assaulted while the protestors broke through. Professional photographers were also pepper-sprayed.

While an officer attends to the woman and folds the Australian flag, laughter can be heard from another officer about the events that had just unfolded.

We then come back to the splinter group who had loitered and reformed on Bridge Road in Richmond. A senior policeman goads protestors before they are again pepper-sprayed. Later, a man lays down upon the tram tracks and manages to hold up the entire public order response team (PORT) who were perhaps on their way to the main kettled group on Barkers Rd, Kew.

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