A man has been filmed headbutting a police officer while being arrested during an ugly confrontation between protesters and cops at the NSW-Queensland border.
Footage obtained by Daily Mail Australia shows several NSW police officers surrounding the man and a woman as they sat by the state border monument in Tweed Heads on Sunday.
The junction has been the site of several demonstrations in recent weeks as Queensland border remains closed to NSW due to the state’s spiralling Covid crisis, with its residents under a raft of restrictions.
In the video, NSW Police officers confront the pair to asks why they appeared to be breaching the state’s Covid rules, which include wearing masks in public settings and bans on public gatherings.
‘There are public orders in place,’ an officer asserts.
‘You’re required to be wearing masks.’
A man has been filmed headbutting police during a stand off between officers and protesters at the NSW-Queensland border on Sunday
The police ask the duo to stand up, but both appear to ignore the request – with the man continuing to sip a drink through a straw while staring off into the distance.
‘We don’t have anything to say here,’ the woman says.
‘You’re not coming? Alright,’ an officer replies, as his colleagues proceed to lift them off the ground.
While the woman signals she will stand on her own volition, the man lays down on his back, digging his heels into the ground.
The police hoist his arms over their and stand him upright to take him away.
But in a bid to stay put, the man headbutts the officer to his left and drops to the ground to wiggle out of the cop’s grip.
Three officers rush over to pin the man to the ground, handcuffing his hands before marching him to their vehicle.
A crowd of supporters stood by filming the incident, taunting officers for policing public health orders.
‘What a disgrace,’ one woman says, while another man lectures officers about how Covid rules are a ‘breach of human rights’.
NSW Police said a man was arrested and charged with three counts of breaching public health orders in relation to the incident, two counts of assault police, and resisting arrest after attending the unauthorised protest.
After headbutting the officer, the man dropped to the ground in a bid to escape cops’ grip
NSW recorded 1,281 new locally-acquired Covid cases on Monday and five deaths as Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned infection numbers will peak within the next couple of weeks.
Under NSW’s state-wide lockdown, residents are only allowed to leave home for essential reasons, such as authorised work, exercise, healthcare, to buy vital goods, or to be vaccinated.
Face masks are mandatory in all public indoor places – including shops, offices, and common areas of apartment buildings – and outdoors unless exercising.
Those over 18 who do not wear or carry a face mask can be slapped with a $500 fine, with $80 and $40 penalties in place for younger age groups.
Anyone with an exemption must either carry a medical certificate issued by a doctor or a statutory declaration.
Those in Sydney’s 12 local councils and 12 suburbs of Penrith council under ultra-hard lockdown are only allowed permitted to exercise for an hour a day and cannot leave home from 9pm to 5am.
He was then surrounded by several more officers who pinned him down to place handcuffs on his wrists
These are include Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta, and Strathfield.
The same rules apply to residents in the Penrith suburbs of Caddens, Claremont Meadows, Colyton, Erskine Park, Kemps Creek, Kingswood, Mount Vernon, North St Marys, Orchard Hills, Oxley Park, St Clair and St Marys.
Those caught breaching the two-person exercise rule in any way can be slapped with a $3,000 on the spot fine, while breaching public health orders, such as travel restrictions, attracts a $1,000 penalty.
Permits are also required for authorised workers travelling in or out of the LGAs of concern.
Regional and rural parts of NSW are under stay-at-home orders until 10 September, while Greater Sydney’s lockdown has been extended until at least the end of that month.
Ms Berejiklian has promised freedoms will be restored to the fully vaccinated once 70 per of the eligible population has received both doses of the jab.