The 22 were among 30 people who were booked by police on April 10 while showing solidarity with more than 60 refugees who were being detained inside the Mantra Hotel in Preston. They were each fined $1652 for allegedly violating a COVID-19 lockdown order. The refugees had been brought to Australia from Manus Island and Nauru for medical treatment under the now abandoned Medavac law. Most did not receive adequate treatment and all were placed in crowded conditions where guards regularly violated social distancing rules. The car cavalcade aimed to raise the morale of the refugees and draw attention to the new detention system. Activists argued that their action was about care and compassion, one of the four reasons people were allowed to leave home at that time.