Cops swarm Sydney’s CBD amid fears anti-lockdown protestors will repeat last week’s disgrace

A massive police operation is underway in Sydney in anticipation of a second weekend of anti-lockdown rallies in Sydney’s CBD.

New South Wales Police set up an exclusion zone around the city from Saturday morning after intelligence showed another protest was being planned.

More than 3,500 people attended the demonstration last week, with officials warning Sydneysiders not to turn up again this weekend. 

Police expect a protest after monitoring online activity, but believe it will not be in the same numbers as the one that shook Sydney last weekend.

Some 60 protesters have been charged and 200 people fined over last Saturday’s demonstration.

New South Wales Police set up an exclusion zone around the city from Saturday morning after intelligence showed another protest was being planned

More than 3,500 people attended the demonstration last week, with officials warning Sydneysiders not to turn up again this weekend 

There are as many as 80 officers at Town Hall station as they look to stop anyone travelling into the city particularly from Sydney’s west and south-western suburbs.

Another large police presence is stationed at Hyde Park, with dozens more officers combing the CBD checking license plates of cars and what people are doing. 

Taxi and rideshare companies face fines of up to half a million dollars if they take passengers into Sydney’s CBD on Saturday, as NSW Police desperately try to prevent a sequel to last weekend’s anti-lockdown protest. 

Police have issued a prohibition notice to seven taxi and rideshare services banning them from taking passengers to the CBD over the six-hour period.

There are as many as 80 officers at Town Hall station as they look to stop anyone travelling into the city particularly from Sydney’s west and south-western suburbs

Kristian Pulkownik, 33, allegedly struck NSW Police horse Tobruk in the nose as his rider was managing thousands of protesters who marched in the city’s CBD last week

Companies who fail to comply with the notice risk a maximum penalty of $500,000, and individuals could be fined up to $100,000, NSW Police say.

The large zone stretches from the Bradfield Highway at Milsons Point north of the Harbour Bridge, to the City West Link at Lilyfield, to South Dowling St near Todman Ave at Zetland, and east to New South Head Rd near Ocean Ave at Edgecliff.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller on Friday warned would-be protesters they would be met by a police force up to 1000 strong.  

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian vowed those who gathered for the illegal demonstration would face ‘the full force of the law’.

‘I am utterly disgusted by the illegal protestors in the city today whose selfish actions have compromised the safety of all of us,’ Ms Berejiklian said.

‘The protesters have shown utter contempt for their fellow citizens who are currently doing it tough.’ 

The man’s colleagues were pictured helping wipe the thick ink from the officer’s skin and uniform, as frenzied activists continued to chant anti-vax slogans

There were wild scenes in protests across the Sydney CBD on Saturday afternoon, prompting Gladys Berejiklian to vow the activists would face ‘the full force of the law’

Ms Berejiklian thanked the ‘brave officers who put their safety on the line’.  

‘This type of activity during lockdown will not be tolerated and the full force of the law will be brought against anyone who engages in this type of illegal activity.’  

NSW Police Minister David Elliott labelled those in the rallies as ‘boofheads’ and said 90 had been fined across the state with many more arrests expected.

‘What we saw today was 3,500 very selfish boofheads — people that thought the law didn’t apply to them,’ he said.  

‘If we don’t see a [Covid] spike in the areas these protesters came from in the next week I’ll be very, very surprised.

‘It was just a whole lot of halfwits. There is no doubt in my mind that at least one individual there today had COVID, it is statistically impossible for us not to consider that.’