Australia Covid live news update: Victoria police and anti-lockdown protesters in violent clashes after 535 new cases; NSW reports 1,331 cases and ACT 15 | Australia news

Galliott defended the police operation, which aimed to lock the protesters out of the city CBD.

Instead, the protesters gathered in Richmond.

It was a great preventative measure by shutting down the public transport system, as we did by enforcing the vehicle checkpoints kept all those people and the protesters out of the city. If we hadn’t done that, we could have had thousands in the city, and we appreciate there was a great disruption to the commuters.

Victoria police have confirmed they arrested 235 people at today’s violent anti-lockdown protests in Melbourne.

The Victoria police commander Mark Galliott says they arrested 193 people for breaching public health orders, while the remaining group were arrested for a range of offences including assaulting police, riotous behaviour, weapons and drug offences.

Ten police officers were injured in the protests, Galliott says. Six were taken to hospital and three remain there with injuries including torn muscles, broken bones and bruises.

Police say they had items including stones, bottles and other objects thrown at them.

Galliott says the protesters – “angry young males” – were there “simply to … have a fight with the police”.

Planned anti-lockdown protests in Sydney have not eventuated as NSW surpassed 50,000 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic, AAP reports.

Police swarmed the city on Saturday amid rumoured rallies in opposition to ongoing stay-at-home orders.

The operation arrested 32 people across the state, including 20 in Sydney, and 265 infringement notices were issued for a range of breaches including failing to wear a face mask.

“I’m pleased to see that common sense has prevailed and the vast majority of people have complied with the existing public health orders,” the police minister, David Elliott, said.

Some 1,700 officers were deployed across the state to manage the potential protests. At Byron Bay there were reports of about 250 people protesting in the streets, and 11 people were arrested.

“Today’s operation has been very successful. Our aim was to prevent the protest activity going ahead … and if you have a look at the results you will see our actions have been well received by the public,” the police assistant commissioner, Peter Thurtell, said.

This is a very interesting piece from Lech Blaine – it’s an excerpt from his Quarterly Essay.

We’re expecting a press conference from Victoria police at 5pm.

The Morrison government has proposed scrapping recovery plans for almost 200 endangered species and habitats including the Tasmanian devil, the whale shark and the endangered glossy-black cockatoo populations on Kangaroo Island, one of the worst-affected areas in the 2019-20 bushfires.

Lisa Cox has more.

Australia has said it “notes with regret” France’s unprecedented decision to recall its ambassador over the scrapping of a submarine contract – part of the Aukus military deal that experts said could damage relations for years and have serious broader consequences.

More from Ben Doherty:

My colleague Natasha May has this interesting and worrying story about vaccination rates in some rural areas.

Australia administered 338,375 vaccines over the past 24 hours, the Department of Health says.

Hello everyone, and thanks again Justine. It’s Luke Henriques-Gomes here.

Here is what AAP says about the protests in Melbourne:

About 1,000 demonstrators have gathered in Richmond after the location of the protest was changed at the last minute to evade authorities.

There have been minor scuffles as well as a violent confrontation involving a handful of protesters.

Some 2,000 officers were deployed at road checkpoints and barricades, and on roving patrols, to try to stop the rally going ahead in breach of public health orders.

The city’s CBD became a no-go zone ahead of Saturday’s unrest, with most public transport to and from the precinct suspended and a “ring of steel” erected around its fringe.

The partial shutdown was made at the request of police after 4,000 people attended a violent anti-lockdown action on 21 August.

I’m going to pass the blog back to my wonderful colleague, Luke Henriques-Gomes. Stay well, everyone!

Some further information about the 15 new cases in the ACT today.

This brings the ACT’s total cases for the current outbreak to 601. Of these, 364 have recovered, and 237 are still active cases.

Eight people are in hospital, the youngest of whom is aged 12. And one patient is in intensive care.

Despite recording new cases, chief health officer Kerryn Coleman said no new exposures sites were added overnight to the list of over 300 locations.

Sydney anti-lockdown protests appear to have been largely thwarted by NSW police.

ABC reports that a handful of people have been arrested at the site of an anti-lockdown protest in Sydney Park, and protesters were outnumbered by law enforcement.

Between 200 and 300 people were also protesting lockdown restrictions in Byron Bay today.

Victoria’s anti-lockdown protesters are still marching on Bridge Road in Richmond.

Traffic was reportedly backed up across the bridge, and protesters were coming from the Hawthorn side of the bridge.

I’m going to pass you back to my excellent colleague Justine Landis-Hanley. Bye for now.