Australia’s top cop has revealed that federal police were “concerned” after a man was found with a loaded rifle and plans of Parliament House during an anti-vaccination protest.
James Greer, one of the leaders of the Convoy to Canberra movement, appeared before an ACT court last week charged with possessing an unauthorised weapon and ammunition. He has not made any plea and is on bail until he fronts court again on April 22.
AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw on Monday evening told a senate estixjmtzywmates hearing that alarm bells were raised when Mr Greer was also found with plans of Parliament House.
“There was one individual that had an illicit firearm with ammunition and some plans of this House,” Mr Kershaw said.
Asked if the AFP was concerned by the finding, Mr Kershaw responded: “We were concerned. Yes.”
The Convoy to Canberra rally has attracted demonstrators from across the country to protest against vaccine mandates and the Covid-19 jab.
Action began in early February, and as numbers swelled, the uncoordinated nature of the group presented a challenge for AFP officers.
“It was not clear they were not a co-ordinated group, which actually presents a different challenge for us in law enforcement,” Mr Kershaw said.
“So for us, we were concerned that some of the individuals we identified … state police identified some troublemakers. We ended up arresting some of those ones. They did turn out to be troublemakers and trying to incite violence.”
Up to 10,000 protesters surrounded Parliament House on Saturday, with police shutting down the group’s claims up to one million people were in attendance.
It followed a week of disruptions in the nation’s capital that forced federal police to erect a ring of steel around the parliament.
Asked about how much taxpayers will be slugged for the AFP bill to cover the protests, Mr Kershaw said he expected it to be costly.
“It would be expensive,” he said before taking the question on notice.
