A group of vaccine mandate protesters have been let into Parliament House as hundreds of demonstrators held rallies outside the building.
United Australia Party MP Craig Kelly, who has been a vocal advocate against Coronavirus vaccines, negotiated for a small group of protesters to be signed in as his visitors.
Mr Kelly had been trying to let a group of protesters enter parliament, which has been closed to the public during the sitting week because of COVID-19 protocols, to hand a list of demands to the government.
The group has been calling for an end to vaccine mandates.
The Convoy to Canberra have been holding protests there for more than a week, targeting Parliament House, the Governor-General’s residence, and the National Press Club.
Parliament House has been closed off to the public during the sitting fortnight due to COVID-19 protocols.
Police officials said as many as 3000 people could attend Tuesday’s rally, with many roads around the building blocked off.
There has been a large police presence around Parliament House, with protesters forced to stay inside large orange barricades set up on the front lawns.
Yesterday, protesters targeted Government House with a crowd of more than 500 protesters gathered outside the Governor-General’s official residence, along with the ABC Canberra newsroom in the city’s inner north on Monday.
Commander Linda Champion from ACT Policing said no arrests had been made in relation to Monday’s protests.
“The crowd have been generally well-behaved and peaceful,” she told reporters in Canberra.
“We’re putting every resource we can towards these protesters and their activities throughout the week.”
Despite Commander Champion’s comments, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr condemned the protestors for “stalking our city, harassing business owners and residents and aggressively flouting the law”.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe campaign that had raised more than $179,000 for the protests has been cancelled by the crowdfunding site.
The campaign was removed from the website for breaching GoFundMe’s terms of service.
Today’s rally is being live-streamed on Facebook here.
With AAP
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