Australian suicide prevention charity Lifeline has welcomed donations from the attendees of the Canberra Freedom Convoy after cancelling a fundraising book fair scheduled for the same day as the massive protests held in front of Parliament House on Feb. 12.
State and territory government COVID-19 restrictions and the more recent vaccine mandates have impacted not just the livelihoods of many Australians around the country but also on the charity’s ability to raise funds over the last two years of lockdowns.
However, she noted that with the influx of 10,000 protestors on Friday a rogue element that had not previously been observed by Lifeline’s volunteers saw customers and staff at the book fair abused. Most concerning for the charity was the removal of a fence designed to separate the two events by individuals in the protestors’ encampment.
“Unfortunately our members of the public and the community had some unfortunate interactions with some of the protestors—a minority—the day before that weighed on the decision to not have 20,000 people coming to support the Lifeline Canberra book fair, while another 20,000 were going out to protest.”
Canberra Police claimed the protests attracted between 10 to 15 thousand demonstrators. However, this figure is disputed on social media with attendees claiming there were between 300 thousand to 1 million.
Meanwhile, ACT Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw told a Senate Estimates hearing on Feb. 17 that it was the largest protest the police had seen since the 1980s. It was also noted that the protest was attended by a mix of people who were and weren’t vaccinated, but that they were all against the vaccine mandates.
Leeson noted that Lifeline’s volunteers were devastated because the charity was counting on the fundraising effort after two years of COVID-19 lockdowns had forced the organisation to only run smaller events.
“One thing we didn’t foresee happening when we made the decision early on Saturday morning to cancel was that the community would very much make other plans and replace book purchases with donations,” she said. “So what we are seeing is an influx of generosity and kindness from so many thousands of Australians.”
This included some of the protesters who, on Feb. 14, made a donation to the charity which the Lifeline CEO called “an incredible gesture.”
In another Facebook post on Feb. 14, Lifeline thanked protestors.
“Throughout the weekend we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and support from our community. We have also been trying to quell the anger felt towards those individuals who forced us to cancel the book fair. We respect the right to protest peacefully. It was a minority and the unfortunate consequences of their actions has caused more division than unity,” Lifeline Canberra said.
Meanwhile, Leeson thanked the protestors “for starting to mend our community,” noting the donation was “an incredible gesture and we are grateful.”
However, while Lifeline and many Canberrans have been supportive of the thousands of Australians who have come out to voice their concerns there are also some in Canberra who are tired of individuals who have claimed association with the convoy and are acting aggressively to local residents.
Video footage of the incident which was circulating on social media showed the women swearing and arguing with each other with the Canberra resident telling the demonstrator to get out of the capital city.
“Get the [expletive] out of Canberra. Go get a job and find something better to do with your [expletive] time,” the Canberra resident said.
“Police spoke to both drivers and confirmed there were no injuries as a result of the collision,” the police said.
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