"Disgraceful": Anti-mask protestors slammed after swarming busy shopping centre
<p>A group of anti-mask protesters who swarmed a popular shopping centre in Bondi Junction on Sunday have been slammed on social media.</p>
<p>Footage has been circulating of people holding up signs that read “masks increase your risk of infection!” While marching through the Westfield shopping centre.</p>
<p>The irresponsible display didn’t sit well with many including public relations director and socialite Roxy Jacenko who posted footage of the protestors on her Instagram Stories, slamming them as “disgraceful”.</p>
<p>“Sorry. But people have died,” she wrote. “Put a f**king mask on. This does not sit well with me.”</p>
<p>She was also concerned about the children, who were being taught to disregard the advice of professionals.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr">A great way to convince people to wear masks is for the government to make them free for those in need, another is to check out the right wing religious fringe who oppose mask wearing. This from Bondi Junction shops today <a href="https://t.co/VkRqUWIbxF">pic.twitter.com/VkRqUWIbxF</a></p>
— David Shoebridge (@ShoebridgeMLC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShoebridgeMLC/status/1345584985223270401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2021</a></blockquote>
<p>NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge also posted footage of the protesters, noting that checking out the “right wing religious fringe” who oppose mask wearing was a great way to convince people to wear masks.</p>
<p>The<span> </span><em>Sydney Morning Herald</em><span> </span>reported that the protesters sang “I would rather be a human than a slave” and “you can stick your sanitiser up your arse”.</p>
<p>New restrictions came into effect on Sunday that require people in Greater Sydney to wear a mask in places like shopping centres and on trains.</p>
<p>The move to make masks mandatory has been supported by experts including University of New South Wales Professor of Epidemiology Mary-Louise McLaws.</p>
<p>“Masks are an important part of the infection prevention bundle,” she told the<span> </span><em>Today</em><span> </span>show on Sunday morning.</p>
<p>“Making it mandatory takes away the decision making by somebody who may not realise that they have the early phase of COVID, and they can spread it just by breathing out and of course by talking.”</p>
