The anti-lockdown rallies that were staged across Australia and became potential super-spreader events had been planned on social media for weeks by conspiracy theorists.
Police had been monitoring encrypted messaging platform Telegram as early as May before the protests erupted in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide on Saturday.
Plans for a rally then gained momentum on Facebook and Instagram where word began to circulate in fringe social media groups that are rife with Covid-19 conspiracy theories and anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination sentiment.
One of the alleged organisers of the rally was Anthony Khallouf, who runs a website called Australians vs The Agenda.
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shane snellman s: চোরকে খুন করে ১৫ বছর ধরে দেহ গচ্ছিত, গন্ধ ঢাকতে খরচ ৭০ বোতল এয়ার ফ্রেসনার - australian man killed a burglar hide body for 15 years
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A tradesman who pointed a laser at a police plane from his backyard said he was trying to shoo it away so he could get some sleep.
Wayne Wiggins pleaded guilty at Parramatta Local Court on Wednesday to an act with intent to prejudice the safety of an aircraft.
Wiggins, 46, pointed the light at a PolAir 8 chopper from his home in Toongabbie in Sydney s west at midnight on April 21.
Police alleged the act could have been fatal as two officers suffered temporary blurred vision. I was sleeping and just the contact buzzing of the plane which I had no idea which was the police, I just did it as a deterrent so I could go to sleep, Wiggins told 7NEWS outside court.