Australia: Pregnant woman arrested in front of family for promoting an anti-lockdown protest online

A pregnant woman who was taken away by police in Australia for allegedly inciting activists to demonstrate against lockdown measures in her region has said she did not know she was breaking the law.

Zoe Buhler was handcuffed in front of her children at her home in the Victoria state city of Ballarat and led away in pyjamas to be charged with using social media platforms to incite others to break pandemic restrictions by attending weekend rallies.

However the 28-year-old, who has gained support of officials across the political spectrum and human rights organisations after footage of her arrest spread across the internet, has said she was unaware her actions constituted a crime.

Her home state is Australia’s leading hotspot for the virus, with a rate of cases that has seen its capital Melbourne kept in an unprecedented state of lockdown since early August.

"The police could have given me a phone call and said: 'Look, you need to take down your event or you could be charged with a crime,' and I would have done that," she told reporters.

"It could have been as simple as that. You know, I'm not someone that would you know ever commit a crime or anything like that," she added.

Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius described police cuffing Buhler as "entirely reasonable" - but admitted footage of the arrest did not paint officers in the best light.

"The optics of arresting someone who is pregnant are terrible," Mr Cornelius said.

Police have also arrested three men and charged them with inciting others to break pandemic restrictions over planned protests in Melbourne on Saturday.

But human rights groups have expressed concern that rules outlawing peaceful protest carry a dangerous authoritarian bent.

Elaine Pearson of NGO Human Rights Watch wrote on Twitter: “While regional Victoria is currently under stage 3 stay-at-home orders and gatherings are banned, the arrest of somebody purely for the act of planning a protest creates an alarming precedent.

“Arresting people pre-emptively for the act of organising peaceful protests or for social media posts is something that happens all too often under authoritarian regimes, and it should not be happening in a democracy like Australia.

“What’s more, heavy-handed police tactics could strengthen the resolve of the anti-lockdown movement and simply serve their interests by galvanising members.”

Meanwhile civil liberties organisation Liberty Victoria the onus was on officers to “exercise discretion and restraint”.

“If police want citizens to co-operate and work together to get through this crisis, they should treat them with dignity and decency and work with people in the community, rather than alienate them”, the group said in a statement.

They added: “Criminal sanctions and fines to enforce public health measures should only be used as a last resort — you can’t police your way out of a pandemic.”