A man wearing a cap and a high-vis orange vest was handcuffed about 9.45am.Another man and a woman were also arrested in the vicinity of the CFMEU headquarters.Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has slammed the “cowards” who unleashed “reprehensible” chaos upon Melbourne on Tuesday, who have vowed to again take over city streets in protest at mandatory Covid vaccinations for construction workers.“I’m not going to disclose what our tactics will be … but they will be different,” he said.The Herald Sun understands police could confront the thugs head-on. Mr Patton on Wednesday said police resources would be expanded beyond the 500 officers who were sent to quell the previous day’s violence.“I’m not going to talk about the tactics we’ll deploy today but I’d be very surprised if you see any cat and mouse games today,” he said.But demonstrators have doubled down, saying: “We ain’t backing down.” Two lone security guards currently guarding the entrance to the CFMEU’s headquarters, which remains boarded up after the office doors were destroyed during Monday’s protest.Construction workers on encrypted messaging app Telegram have pleaded with some of the more aggressive demonstrators — who on Tuesday threw bottles and urinated on journalists, hurled rocks and lit flares — to engage in a peaceful March on Wednesday.“All on again tomorrow (Wednesday). No violence, no childish behaviour,” one construction worker said. The worker implored marchers not to consume alcohol or illicit drugs. The warning comes after the Herald Sun obtained footage of two men wearing high-vis clothing snorting a substance on the side of the road on Tuesday. Two men wearing high-vis clothing snort a substance on the roadside in Melbourne on Tuesday.“No alcohol to be consumed. If I see alcohol being consumed I’ll personally smash all the bottles on the ground,” they said. “We will stand firm. We will get our point across. We will make sure our voices are heard.” But others were already gearing up for another day of mass disruption across town. “Gonna (sic) be a good one today,” another protester wrote. “Let’s do this, it will be a big one.”Protesters are set to congregate outside CFMEU headquarters on Elizabeth Street between 9am and 10am, with agitators from right-wing anti-lockdown and anti-vaxxer group Melbourne Freedom Rally encouraging people to congregate alongside construction workers. Membership to encrypted right-wing groups continued to grow on Wednesday as protesters were seen sharing plans to travel into the city. Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday labelled protest attendees were a “diverse crowd” and said they did not represent the construction industry.“It is not representative of them. The hundreds and thousands of people who are in every sense of that word builders — they’re not wreckers, they’re not vandals, they’re builders, they build our state,” he said. “I got nothing but respect for them and I don’t think they were in any way represented accurately in any way by the appalling conduct of some yesterday.”As the Premier Daniel Andrews spoke to media, agitators in private social media groups attempted to rev up their fellow protesters.They urged everyone demonstrating to “get in early” to avoid police roadblocks and other restrictions that could diminish their numbers.They also seized on the fact that Deputy Premier James Merlino would be speaking later on Wednesday in an announcement expected to include mandatory vaccination for teachers.“The teachers will soon be on the streets with us,” one message said.But there was debate about whether to ensure the protest was peaceful or not.Some anti-vaccination hardliners also believed police would eventually join their side if the demonstrations did not become violent.But others were far more extreme.“So are the doors to Parliament House being broken down and Dan being dragged out?” one message said.PROTESTS COULD JEOPARDISE LOCKDOWN ENDThe Premier said the ongoing rallies could even threaten the end of Melbourne’s sixth lockdown.“We are so close, we are so close to meeting those vaccination targets at 70 per cent double dose, 80 per cent double dose, ending this lockdown, getting past this thing,” Mr Andrews said.“Yes, it will be a difficult time in our hospital system. We will see patients but we are going to normalise this and we are going to be open and the days of lockdowns will be behind us.“This sort of behaviour puts everything at risk.”Mr Andrews said there were more Covid-19 cases in the construction industry than there were in aged care, with 350 tradies currently positive with the virus.He defended the two-week construction shutdown in locked-down regions, blaming lack of compliance in the sector.Thousands of protesters and construction workers were involved in a number of violent acts across the city and on the West Gate Bridge“I can’t just see cases ticking up and up and up, people not wearing their masks, no compliance — not in every site, but many, many sites,” Mr Andrews said.“You can’t ignore that. So you have to act and that’s why it’s not a choice to get vaccinated … 350-odd cases, 150-odd sites, large and small, are taking the virus to regional Victoria, shutting whole regional communities down.”He also compared the construction sector to frontline healthcare workers, who had similar restrictions and mandates slapped on them.“Nurses are not out in the streets and national cabinet made a decision last Friday that everybody in the health system is going to be vaccinated,” he said. “They have never had a tearoom in two years. Nurses and health staff are out, rain, hail or shine, sitting outside having their breaks. Victoria Police members, they don’t get a tearoom, ambos don’t get a tearoom. “Construction stayed open and I reckon there would be a lot of people sitting at home who haven’t been able to go to work for sad, but for the best of reasons, and they just be scratching their heads – how could you be upset to be open and have to abide by rules? “Well, now that industry is shut. I’m upset about that. I’m gutted to have to make that decision. I want to get it open again. “The way to do it is for people to follow the rules and get vaccinated. And pleasingly, apart from a pretty small minority … I think a lot of people are doing that.”HOW TUESDAY’S CHAOS UNFOLDEDUp to 2000 vicious rioters led police on a seven-hour game of cat and mouse on Tuesday as they wound their way along city streets, while lighting flares, hurling rocks, launching themselves on cars and invading the West Gate Bridge. Innocent people, including children, were trapped terrified in cars as the mob took over the gateway, chanting “this is our bridge” and even spitting on a woman driving a Bentley.Premier Daniel Andrews, who issued a statement but did not appear publicly on Tuesday, slammed the violence, saying there was “no excuse for the terrible behaviour we have seen in our city over the last two days”.“Acts of violence and disruption won’t result in one less case of Covid – in fact it only helps the virus to spread,” he said. “Thank you to the brave men and women of Victoria Police for their work today – and every day – to keep our community safe.”Police have vowed to track down the protesters – which included construction workers, tradies, unionists and radical activists, some of whom were drunk – as they faced off with the riot squad who were armed with pepper ball guns and stinger grenades. Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said: “You cannot come in and break the law. We will hold you to account.”About 500 police, including general duties officers, the public order response team, the critical incident response team and the air wing, responded to the lawless throng.In Melbourne’s third volatile protest in just four days, specialist officers were forced to fire pepper ball rounds, foam baton rounds, smoke rounds and stinger grenades. Three officers and a journalist were injured with 62 arrests.“This is utter criminal conduct they’ve been involved in,” Mr Patton said. “This was a very large and very, very angry group. Crowds like this, they’re for cowards.“Cowards who seek to hide their identity … to do other things that if they were by themselves they wouldn’t have the courage to do.”The group, many clad in workwear, on Tuesday morning faced off with police at the offices of the CFMEU on Elizabeth St, where a day earlier, they rounded on the union and its leader John Setka. The second protest came amid a two-week ban on construction work, announced by the state government just hours after Monday’s demonstration. TRADES HALL SLAMS ‘DRESS-UP’ MOBUnions are continuing to distance themselves from the protests against the mandatory vaccination of the construction sector and shutdown of the industry.The Victoria Trades Hall Council claimed the protests over the last few days were not union-affiliated and instead made up of people who are pretending to be tradespeople.“I’ve led rallies in the past, big ones, like 200,000 people in the streets, our rallies are diverse, they are passionate … they are fundamentally peaceful,” secretary Luke Hilakari told 3AW.“This is not a union rally, this is a mob who playing dress-up, and are attempting to intimidate our whole city, and it’s just not on.”The VTHC head threw his support behind mandatory vaccination of the sector, saying it was the only way things can return to normality.“Vaccinations keep us safe … the best thing you can possibly do is get a jab,” he said.“(Our union is) all about keeping people safe.”Mr Hilakari urged people to not show up to Wednesday’s demonstrations.“These protests are dangerous — they should not show up,” he said.“Make your point in a peaceful way … you don’t have to do it in the middle of the city in a pandemic.”— Additional reporting: Caleb Bond, Mitch Clarke, Kieran Rooney
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