Footage of police helicopters flying over beaches and parks in Australia to enforce draconian coronavirus lockdown measures is circulating on social media.
“Attention, attention, this is a police helicopter,” blares one aircraft looming over a beach in Sydney in footage uploaded to TikTok.
“Will everyone congregating in Gordon’s Bay move on,” the helicopter orders.
“The local police have been notified and will be attending shortly. Anyone breaching the public health order will be issued a fine,” the loudspeaker adds, as a small crowd of mostly young people make a hasty exit from the scene:
@seeshotsHave you ever heard a ♀️ warning from a before? #sydneylockdown #policeoperation #lockdownlife #gordonsbay #easternsuburbssydney #coogee #police♬ Know Yourself – Drake
People in Sydney’s western suburbs also reported a helicopter hovering over homes and backyards, threatening anyone breaking lockdown.
“This is public health order, do not break rules, you will be found and fines issued,” the chopper is said to have screeched.
“This is not the Australia I emigrated to,” one woman complained in comments to Daily Mail Australia.
“Cannot believe it. Are they checking we are wearing masks in our gardens? Talk about being treated as suspected criminals,” she said.
The Commonwealth realm has also sent hundreds of army soldiers into eight districts covering Sydney’s poorest neighbourhoods, tasked with going door-to-door to check residents known to have tested positive for the coronavirus are isolating.
“They are a poor community, they are a vulnerable community, and they don’t deserve these lockdowns or these extended and harsh measures that they have now been targeted with,” complained the mayor of one of these districts, Cumberland, where around 60 per cent of residents are migrants.
Last month, Australian health officials also ordered National Rugby Leage (NRL) players and people in their so-called “bubbles” to stay off the balconies in the quarantine hotels they were staying in, and even send photographic evidence that they have taped their balconies shut.