Protesters’ disturbing gesture to Daniel Andrews | Wife reacts

Around 1000 protesters gathered at Victorian parliament on Tuesday, with some threatening to take over the building and others chasing down journalists.

In disturbing vision posted on Twitter, one woman with a megaphone said: “I look forward to the day I get to see you dance on the end of a rope”, believed to be directed at Daniel Andrews.

It comes after protesters gathered outside the building on Monday evening, jeering when a blow-up replica of Mr Andrews was placed next to makeshift gallows on the steps of parliament.

The protest on Tuesday was part of planned rallies against vaccine mandates and controversial pandemic legislation currently before parliament.

One man with a megaphone yelled about taking over the building as protesters cheered and honked horns.

“If those police allow us to go through those doors and take over parliament, we will,” he shouted.

“We will lead the state to freedom.”

In shocking vision captured at the back gates of parliament, Channel 7 reporter Nick McCallum approached demonstrators for comment, but was met with anger.

The vision showed the protesters yelling abuse at the veteran reporter while they pursued him as he retreated up the road.

The disturbing scenes follow weeks of hostility towards members of parliament, with Mr Andrews, chief health officer Brett Sutton and crossbenchers Andy Meddick, Fiona Patten and Samantha Ratnam on the receiving end.

Mr Andrews’ wife, Catherine, has spoken for the first time surrounding the chaos, taking to Twitter to thank those who had sent “beautiful messages” to her husband and the family and to reiterate her stance: “I Stand with Dan”.

The wife of Deputy Premier James Merlino on Tuesday hit out at the scenes, labelling them as “so far over the line”.

“If that was about my husband, James Merlino, I’d be calling the police to put a stop to it,” Meagan Porch wrote.

“In what world is it okay for Cath and the kids to have to stand by and watch this as if everything is okay? This is so far over the line it’s ridiculous.”

Victoria Police said no complaint had been made about the gallows, but it would be investigated if the Premier or another person raised concerns.

Protesters plan protests in 12 other cities across Australia this weekend as part of a mass day of action against mandatory Covid-19 vaccines.

The demonstrators have circulated flyers on social media and encrypted messaging app Telegram, calling for Aussies to join in on the “Worldwide Rally For Freedom” on Saturday at noon.

Protests are planned for 13 cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin and Hobart.

Protesters have listed a series of demands including ending vaccine mandates, lockdown measures, “medical discrimination” and “unlawful quarantine detention”.

The Sydney protest promises a speech from controversial United Australia Party anti-vax MP Craig Kelly.

Melbourne’s rally is expected to be extra fiery, as Victorians also protest against the state government’s proposed pandemic bill.

The planned rallies come after thousands of angry protesters stormed the Melbourne CBD on Saturday.

Demonstrators marched through the city shouting “kill the bill” as they carried flags and provocative banners targeting Mr Andrews.

Families and young children were among the crowd, which included activists carrying a fake gallows and wearing horror movie masks.

Controversial pandemic bill

The state government was forced to make significant changes to its controversial pandemic management bill overnight following significant community backlash.

Crossbench MPs on Monday night put pressure on the Andrews government to wind back some aspects of the proposed laws as politicians prepare to debate and vote on the bill in parliament’s upper house this week.

The new laws – which would give the Premier the power to declare a pandemic on the advice of the chief health officer and Health Minister – were pushed through the lower house two weeks ago.

Mr Andrews on Tuesday said negotiations with crossbenchers and amendments to the legislation at such a late stage in the process was not unusual.

Changes to the proposed laws will include halving financial penalties for breaching pandemic orders and releasing public health advice sooner than originally planned.

The government will also reduce the reporting period for documents associated with pandemic orders from 14 days to seven days.

There will also be an oversight committee to be able to consider pandemic orders once they are made, not only when they are tabled in parliament.

A clause in the bill that would have allowed pandemic orders to be made against classes of people based on attributes as defined in the Equal Opportunity Act will also be scrapped.

Speaking about changes to the bill, Mr Andrews said he was happy there would be greater oversight by the parliament.

“The bill is filled with safeguards, oversight mechanisms that exceed any other state, I think, perhaps any other country,” he said.

“There’s always a process of back and forth. It’s about getting outcomes, not getting stuck in processes.

“I’m hopeful that at the end of the week, the council will see fit to support the bill.”

Government officials can only make certain decisions such as lockdown, limits on movement and mandatory mask-wearing rules under the state of emergency.

It has introduced the bill, which began being debated on Tuesday, so it can continue to wield pandemic powers after the state of emergency expires on December 15.

The Andrews government needs the support of the three crossbench MPs for the bill to pass.

It has previously said the proposed legislation will create “purpose-built” laws for a pandemic that were no broader than other states and territories.

Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy described the proposed laws as “an incredible attack on democracy” and said “nothing had changed”.

“The amendments last night seek to put a little bit more power in the hands of the scrutiny of acts and regulations committee, which is government controlled,” Mr Guy told reporters.

“Redraw it and do it properly.”

Addressing reporters outside parliament on Tuesday, Mr Andrews criticised the opposition for playing political games.

“There are some who called for these measures a few weeks ago and as soon as the government did that they changed their position,” Mr Andrews said.

“That’s the definition of a political game.

“You’ve got the opposition who are wanting to have it a bit both ways, you know, standing with people who are anti-vaxxers, sharing a podium with people who are anti-science, anti-vaccination, while at the same time talking about the place being closed.

“The reason we’re open and the reason we’re going to stay open is people have got vaccinated.”

Leader of the opposition in the Legislative Council David Davis called it “an extraordinary and undemocratic” move by the government, accusing it of not engaging with the opposition and other MPs.

“I think the community can see that the government is determined to ram this bill through – this is a shameful step with such an important bill,” he said.

“It is particularly with bills that tear away the rights of Victorians, that set to lock Victorians down, that seek to take Victorians’ liberties, that seek to take away the rights and privileges of Victorians, that process needs to be followed more cautiously.

“It is particularly those bills where misuse of parliamentary processes is most egregious.”

Ms Patten, who is supporting the proposed legislation, argued the bill would go far to protect human life.

“If our government and this parliament had done nothing about Covid, then our health system would have been overwhelmed and thousands of Victorians would have died,” the upper house crossbencher said.

“The ultimate human right is to protect life and that’s what this bill is doing.”

The Human Rights Law Centre welcomed the proposed amendments, with Legal Director Daniel Webb saying the proposed legislation is a significant improvement on the current law and acknowledged the work of several crossbench MPs in securing these important changes.

“The pandemic isn’t over and governments around the country continue to use public health and emergency powers to help manage it.

“The easy thing for these crossbench MPs to do would have been to just grant another extension under the existing law.

“Instead, they’ve used this moment to take advice from a range of experts and worked to make the law better. It now looks like we’ll emerge from all of this with a much better law than what we had before, thanks largely to their efforts.

“The law still isn’t perfect. We think there should be an outer limit on how long a pandemic declaration can be extended for and stronger appeal rights for detention. But these things are partially addressed by other safeguards in the Bill and overall this is still a huge improvement on the current law.”