In Ripponlea tonight pic.twitter.com/2h4a2lpKyA
— Eddie Jim (@EddieJim2) September 7, 2021
A tense stand-off outside a Melbourne Shul has ended with police warning all adults who illegally gathered that they will be found and fined.
Up to 30 people are now believed to have attended a Rosh Hashanah Minyan, which let police and media in a stand-off with on Tuesday night as they gathered for the first night of Yom Tov.
Six people have been been fined $5,452 for breaching public health orders.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Russell Barrett has told other Mispalilim to come forward and turn themselves in.
He’s vowed to hunt down every adult inside the Shul and fine them.
‘I’m appalled,’ he said on Wednesday morning. ‘Come forward, identify yourself.
‘My instruction to my investigators today is every person at the gathering will receive a penalty notice.’
Supporters stood outside the Shul in Ripponlea, Melbourne on Tuesday night as the Rosh Hashanah continued inside.
There was initially believed to be 100 people inside, but police downscaled the estimated number to around 30 on Wednesday.
Police guarded every exit from the Shul to swoop on worshippers as they left, but many instead took to the roofs of nearby buildings to escape.
But a well-known Jewish community activist said that “Melbourne felt somewhat like Nazi Germany this year Rosh Hashana.. as police sieged a Shul for 14 hours”.
The activist, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, said the following:
“We have ZERO COVID cases in the heimishe community of Ripponlea. Over 90% of the 40+ age group are double vaxxed. We asked for a legal way to daven outdoors on Rosh Hashanah, citing “bottle shops and building sites’ that are open for 50-100 people, some even spent thousands in the courts to try to push it through – and the government gave us zero. This prompted some people to go early to a shul (5:30am) and locked themselves in – no noise at all. Unfortunately, some local non-Jewish neighbors were up at 5:00AM and filmed some people going in Tuesday morning and sent the footage to the media. Police surrounded the block like there was a terrorist attack – and they did not leave until Wednesday night. This is appalling and disgusting.”
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