How Melbourne residents can simply drive out of lockdown: Motorist REFUSES to tell police where she is going and why – and officers are powerless to stop her
By BRITTANY CHAIN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA
- Residents in Melbourne’s locked down suburbs can drive through checkpoints
- Eve Black uploaded video of her refusing to answer police questions
- She was eventually waved through the checkpoint despite offering no details
Residents in Melbourne’s locked down suburbs can simply drive through police checkpoints without telling officers where they are going.
Eve Black, from Melbourne, shared footage on Thursday of herself driving past an officer at a COVID-19 police barricade.
When a police officer asked her where she was headed and why she was attempting to leave, Ms Black simply told him she didn’t need to share that information.
Instead of sharing her personal information, Ms Black asked the officer whether she’d ‘disturbed the peace’ by trying to leave her town.
‘No,’ the officer responded. ‘I just asked what your reason for leaving today is.’
Ms Black responded: ‘I don’t need to tell you that. I don’t know you.’
Initially, the officer persisted. ‘Where have you come from,’ he asked again.
‘I don’t need to answer your questions. Have I committed a crime? Have I committed a crime?’ she asked twice.
Instead of answering her question, the officer waved Ms Black through the checkpoint.
‘Just keep going,’ he said as he let her and her passenger drive past.
Ms Black admitted she was ‘nervous as heck’ as she approached the checkpoint, but encouraged her friends and family to ‘know their rights’ during lockdown.
‘I just read from the sheet, and he could obviously see it wasn’t worth the trouble,’ she explained.
The sheet in question explained the exact phrases people attempting to leave lockdown should use when stopped by officers.
The video is one of many circulating on social media where drivers encourage people to challenge the lockdowns, which have been imposed to stem the spread of COVID-19.
A Victorian driver who was pulled over at a lockdown checkpoint argued with police for 20 minutes about the legality of the operation, before claiming COVID-19 was not contagious and refusing to hand over his licence.
James Bartolo shared footage of the altercation on Facebook on Sunday after he was pulled over at a routine checkpoint while travelling in an unregistered Mustang.
He refused to hand over his licence – which police later learned was suspended – and eventually told the officers that they’d pulled him over unlawfully by following ‘dopey Dan’s false legislation’, in reference to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
Mr Bartolo revealed he did not believe coronavirus was contagious and argued that it was a hoax.
The deadly respiratory infection has killed 109 Australians – and at least 571,000 worldwide – and Victoria is currently grappling with a second outbreak.
Mr Andrews ordered metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire back into a second lockdown in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.
‘Who consented to that?’ Mr Bartolo asked the officers when they attempted to explain what it is they were doing. ‘Go arrest your Freemason scumbag leaders and politicians.’
‘Do your actual jobs rather than harassing innocent people like me. Stop being an embarrassment to society,’ he said.
‘You’ve pulled me over unlawfully and started to claim… that I’ve done something wrong. I’m not the one standing around with weapons and harassing people and pulling them over according to dopey Dan’s false legislation.’
Mr Bartolo went on to begin ranting about the officers’ role in facilitating the COVID-19 lockdown in Victoria.
‘Do you know the virus isn’t actually contagious?’ he asked. ‘That has been scientifically proven.
‘This whole COVID-19 is a f**king hoax. It’s a scam.’
Frustration mounted between both parties as another police officer joined the discussion and instructed Mr Bartolo to pull over to the side to let other cars behind him through.
Following further discussions, the officer conceded.
The cop explained to Mr Bartolo that he would be charged for further offences relating to hindering an officer in performing his job, but then allowed him to leave.
