‘We’re In Survival Mode’: Life Inside Melbourne’s Sudden COVID-19 Tower Lockdown
As Ahmed Dini entered his third full day of hard lockdown at his North Melbourne tower block home on Tuesday, there had still only been one food delivery to his apartment - a pack of meat pies dropped at the door at 3am.
“It wasn’t Halal food or vegetarian so we didn’t touch it,” he said.
The social worker, who moved to Australia when he was 10-years-old after spending six years in a Kenyan refugee camp, has been working tirelessly to get supplies and information to 3,000 residents in the North Melbourne, Flemington and Kensington public housing towers since Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews’ shock mandatory lockdown announcement on Saturday.
Residents had zero notice before more than 500 police arrived on the estates to keep tenants inside the nine towers, leaving them reliant on community support after they said the government delivered culturally inappropriate food.
Meanwhile residents in 12 neighbouring Melbourne “COVID hotspots”, some in the same postcode as the towers, are facing stage three restrictions but are free to leave their homes for essential reasons.
“A lot of people need Halal food and they weren’t getting that, we had to take matters into our own hands,” Dini told HuffPost Australia on a phone call from his apartment.
“It caused a lot of angst, anxiety, confusion and doubt for residents.”
Community members set up a support centre at the Australian Muslim Social Services Agency (AMSSA) to collect and distribute food and essential supplies.
Organisers told HuffPost “through no aid of any institution” they have managed to curate culturally appropriate food hampers and bespoke packs with essential medical supplies and other essential items but boxes were confiscated by authorities when they were dropped at the towers.
It’s classist - there’s no other word to describe it.Ahmed Dini, resident
“This is a logistical nightmare where no one wants to take accountability. We’re facing [from the Department of...
