Draconian Lockdowns Target Low-Income Immigrant Communities
On Saturday, without warning, more than 500 armed police officers surrounded nine public housing towers in Melbourne, Australia, and placed them under “hard lockdown,” after a number of residents tested positive for coronavirus. Under the hastily imposed restrictions, the harshest in the country so far, the buildings’ 3,000 residents have been banned from leaving their homes for any reason.
Government officials have argued that the draconian measures are necessary in order to prevent the coronavirus from spreading throughout the buildings, which are home to many poor, minority residents. Daniel Andrews, the premier of the Australian state of Victoria, said that the government would provide food, health care and other essential services for residents of the tower blocks.
“You will not be allowed to leave your unit, your dwelling within that tower, for any reason,” Andrews said. “This is not going to be a pleasant experience for those residents, but I have a message for those residents: This is not about punishment but protection.”
Those living in the towers say that the promised government support has failed to materialise, however, and that they have been unfairly singled out, and intimidated by the police presence.
After largely bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control, the virus has surged back in Australia in recent days. On Tuesday, 199 new cases were reported nationally, the biggest one-day rise since early April. Victoria was responsible for 191 of those cases — many of them in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city.
In response, the government is imposing a six-week, citywide lockdown beginning at midnight on Wednesday. But in contrast to the residents of the nine towers, other Melbourne residents will be allowed to leave their homes for work, exercise, grocery shopping and other essential business.
“This is overt classism and racism,” Tigist Kebede, a mental health counsellor who used to live in the apartment complex and still...
