Melbourne protests LIVE Protesters in stand-off with Victoria Police at Shrine of Remembrance Daniel Andrews condemns demonstrations

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Police have closed in on hundreds of protesters gathered at the Shrine of Remembrance.

The demonstrators have been at the war memorial for about an hour, mostly sitting on the steps.

Riot police followed, initially establishing a ring around the group from a few hundred metres away, but have now closed in to form a tighter ring.

No rounds of, for example, pepper balls or rubber pellets have been fired yet.

The protesters are shouting: “We are peaceful, we are peaceful”.

One man on a megaphone is urging demonstrators not to provoke the police.

“Leave them alone, leave them alone,” he said.

They are also urging police to “take a knee” and join them.

The Channel 9 helicopter is feeding live vision from the sky that you can watch below.

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Police appear to have surrounded protesters who have spilled onto the steps of the Shrine of Remembrance, off St Kilda Road.

Hundreds of protesters are sitting on the steps of the war memorial, while riot police have set up about 200 metres away in formation and with shields up.

The protest appears to remain peaceful at this stage, with demonstrators chanting “f--- the jab” and “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi”.

The group has reached the Shrine of Remembrance, with protesters sitting on the steps of the war memorial off St Kilda Road.

Only a handful of uniform police were guarding the shrine when they arrived.

Protesters called out to the officers to “join us”.

The uniformed officers walked off the steps, allowing the protesters to sit there, but riot police are following and have set up nearby.

Age reporter on the ground Erin Pearson says police have been firing tear gas into the back of the crowd.

Some protesters have expressed their concern about the sacred site where marchers had stopped.

“Do not leave rubbish, respect this site,” one man can be heard yelling.

Protesters have moved past Flinders Street station, and towards the Shrine.

As of 1.11pm, the group moved across the Flinders Street bridge over the Yarra River, away from the city and towards the Shrine of Remembrance on St Kilda Road.

According to one live stream from someone within the protest group, one man on a megaphone is urging the group to keep an eye out for violence and instructing them to stay together.

“If you see someone become violent, tell them to stop,” came the cry.

They referred to “infiltrators” stirring up violence.

“We are smarter than that...we are professional,” came one voice on a megaphone.

“To the Shrine itself, stay tight.”

The group is chanting at various stages “every day”, “stop the jab”, “freedom” and, as they approached the Shrine, “lest we forget”.

There doesn’t appear to be a strong police presence.

Protesters are still making their way through the city, setting off flares outside the Queen Victoria Market.

Erin Pearson, one of the reporters for The Age on the scene, says police have closed nearby streets in an effort to contain them.

Our journalists say smaller bands of protesters have been joining a main group of demonstrators that has been walking through the city.

The number of protesters appears to be in the hundreds so far, significantly fewer than yesterday’s numbers of between 1,000 and 2,000 people.

As of 12.57pm, the crowd continues to move, heading back into the heart of the city down Swanston Street.

Victoria’s deputy premier James Merlino described the protesters as thugs and thanked police for doing their job.

Mr Merlino is addressing the state’s daily COVID-19 press conference at the moment.

“Make no mistake, this is thuggery, this is criminal behaviour and will be responded to accordingly by Victoria Police who are doing an exceptional job,” Mr Merlino said.

“On behalf of all Victorians, our thanks and gratitude to our Victoria Police members who put themselves at risk.“

Mr Merlino said the group were not protesters, but criminals. While there were some construction workers, there were also members of far-right groups, he said.

Mr Merlino said the construction shutdown was tough, but necessary.

“The number of cases, the transmission, the non-compliance, had to be address,” he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews told media earlier this morning there were 350 cases of COVID-19 across 150 different sites last month and this month.

Riot police have begun moving towards a group of protesters, marching south along Elizabeth Street as the small group of protesters retreats.

Aerial footage showed officers hurling projectiles in the direction of the protesters and taking in two women who stood in their path.

The protest itself is a moving beast, with demonstrators moving through the city including down Flinders Street.

There have been reports of police using non-lethal force to disperse the groups this morning, while the protesters have set off flares and blocked traffic.

Yesterday, when the numbers swelled to between 1,000 and 2,000 protesters, police fired rubber pellets, smoke rounds, foam baton rounds and pepper balls.

Police are moving through the city streets, stalking small groups of protesters.

Sirens are ringing through the city streets as police run from street corner to corner.

Channel Nine reporter Christine Ahern is watching a group of protesters march down Russell Street.

Ahern told radio station 3AW said there appears to be two groups of protesters making their way through the city.

The second group was also seen walking down Lonsdale Street.

Crime reporter for The Age Erin Pearson was there as police converged on Carlton gardens as well, just north of the city, where one arrest was made.

Rewinding to a little earlier this morning, Victorian construction union boss John Setka has vowed to kick those who participate in violent protests out of the industry.

Mr Setka, CFMEU state secretary, said union staff have been trawling through CCTV and other footage on social media to identify construction workers who attacked its Melbourne headquarters on Monday.

Tempers fray outside the Melbourne office of the CFMEU on Monday.Credit:Chris Hopkins

“Let me tell you, people that were involved in the violent protest, they may as well go pick fruit in Mildura somewhere because they will not be working in our industry. We don’t need people like that,” he told ABC radio this morning.

“Our industry, we try and make it safe. We don’t need morons, drunken morons that think by throwing bottles at people, it’s a good way to protest. They can go somewhere else.”

The citywide protests were sparked when government shut the building industry for a fortnight on Monday night after a day of unprecedented and violent demonstration at the union’s head office in Elizabeth Street.

Windows were smashed, projectiles were thrown at senior officials and riot police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd.

Also on radio this morning, Mr Setka denied he was subservient to Premier Daniel Andrews, saying he had never even met or spoken with the Mr Andrews, and did not have his phone number.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has slammed the anti-vaccine mandate protests in Melbourne.

“The protests are very concerning and that is unacceptable behaviour and particularly at a time when those in Victoria are dealing with lockdowns and many other stresses this is very concerning,” Mr Morrison said, speaking from Washington, D.C. where he is meeting world leaders.

He said he understood concern about the shutdown of the Victorian construction industry, but pointed out NSW had implemented similar restrictions and vaccine mandates on its building sector, which did not trigger violent protests.

“These are important jobs and they will return. We will get through this but protest activity and what we have seen there is highly distressing and that is not an appropriate response to trying to deal with an outbreak of this nature,” he said.

He said assistance payments were available to people out of work as a result of the pandemic.

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