Thousands Expected To Attend Black Lives Matter Protest In Sydney Next Week

A Black Lives Matter rally amidst the potential of the second wave of COVID-19 has the NSW police concerned.

The New South Wales Police is considering taking protest organisers of the Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney to the Supreme Court to stop it from going ahead. It’s predicted that the rally will gather up to 4000 people to attend the march to demand justice for David Dungay Jnr, an Indigenous man who died in custody in 2015. However, the authorities are worried it might act as ground 0 for a potential second wave of COVID-19 in Sydney.

The New South Wales Police Commissioner commented saying “ I don't want to see the same thing happen in NSW (in reference to Victoria’s second wave), and getting a big group together for a Black Lives Matters protest in Sydney when you know the dangers, is playing Russian roulette with the nearly eight million people who live in the state.’

On the contrary, the organisers have commented saying that attending the rally will be no different than going to a beach or going to a shopping centre which has seen increased traffic since the restrictions in NSW have been eased. On the Today show, the organiser Paddy Gibson also said: “Everyone will have a mask at the rally and we will have hand sanitiser and we can spread out far more safely than people in shopping centres. We believe with social distancing, everyone wearing masks, we can put the message across and say justice must be done and the guards must be charged for this killing.“ From the previous Black Lives Matter rallies that were held last month, authorities are yet to track a single person that was contracted COVID-19 due to the rally.