Avi Yemini, a Rebel News journalist, was arrested on his first day (September 8) covering Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protests after police tackled him without cause, citing a dubious "hindering" claim despite holding a permit. Victoria’s extreme COVID policies—including forced mask compliance and warrants for pregnant women over Facebook posts—mirrored Toronto’s David Menzies case, with protesters facing unprecedented brutality compared to Black Lives Matter rallies. Legacy media like Channel 7/9 allegedly downplayed police misconduct while privately condemning it, fueling accusations of complicity in suppressing dissent. Yemini’s legal threats and Rebel News’s crowdfunding push signal a broader fight against pandemic-era civil liberties abuses, with parallels to Tommy Robinson’s activism and growing media resistance worldwide. [Automatically generated summary]
Today we go deep into what happened to my friend Avi Yamini, an Australian journalist who joined us on Friday and was arrested on Saturday.
We'll show you everything that happened.
If you're listening to the podcast, I guess you'll have to hear it.
And I think it'll make sense.
But I wish you could see it.
We got it all on tape.
To do that, just subscribe to what we call Rebel News Plus.
It's the video version of these podcasts.
Just go to rebelnews.com, click subscribe, and you'll get not only this daily podcast in video form, but also weekly podcasts by Sheila Gunreed and David Menzies.
All right, here's the podcast.
Tonight, we hired a new reporter on Friday.
He was arrested on Saturday.
It's September 8th, and this is the Eswell Avance Show.
Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have to say is government about why I publish it just because it's my money right to do so.
I'm sure you know my friend Avi Yamini.
We talked to him just a few weeks ago about the extreme lockdown in the Australian state of Victoria.
Avi is based in Melbourne, Victoria's largest city, and he told us what it's like to be under a curfew when you're not allowed to leave your home but for a few hours a day, not allowed to go beyond a few kilometers.
It's the most shocking lockdown in the entire free world.
And I might even say worse than China itself.
In Victoria, police will literally come up to you on the street, hold you down and force a face mask on you.
If you don't have a face mask, they'll arrest you.
If you made a Facebook post about opposing the lockdown, they'll come into your house with a search warrant, even if you're a pregnant mum.
Remember this clip?
Yeah, you can show me your search warrant before you go through my house.
You're the occupied or tenant.
Yeah, I own this house.
There it is.
Search warrant for what?
Now, what I will explain to you is if you want to listen, you got your phone going?
Yeah, I do.
Now, you're under arrest in relation to incitement.
Incitement?
Now, you're not obliged to say do anything, but anything you say do may be given evidence.
Excuse me, incitement for what?
What on earth?
Excuse me, what on earth?
Just put your phone down.
Can you record this?
It might be just a ultrasound in an hour because it's not a problem.
Yeah, she's pregnant, so please.
What's this about?
If I have an ultrasound, just went down.
In an hour.
Let me finish and I'll explain it.
It's in relation to a Facebook post in relation to a lockdown protest you put on for Saturday.
Yeah, and I wasn't breaking any laws by doing it.
You are, actually.
You are breaking laws.
That's why I'm arresting you.
In relation to the story.
How can you arrest her?
That's Victoria, Australia, one of the freest places in the world, very much like Canada, a member of the Five Eyes Security Group.
That's Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, and the US.
These are the freest places in the world.
Australia, who fought by our side in two world wars, Korea and elsewhere.
This is Australia.
You bet it is.
And Victoria has the toughest lockdown laws around.
Crowd Control Laws00:03:39
Well, we hired Avi.
He started on Friday, and on Saturday, he got in his car and he went to a protest against the lockdown.
Now to even be able to do that, he had to fill out forms and get permits because they literally have check stops on the road where they demand your papers.
Well, he had filled out all the correct paperwork, so they let him through grudgingly at the protest himself.
He was not there to protest.
He was there to report on it, just like the mainstream media from Australia did, including legacy media like Channel 7 and Channel 9, as they were called.
Avi did great.
He's very professional.
He's done a lot of videos, not just for us, but for Tommy Robinson's news channel and on his own.
I don't know if you recall, but Avi did some amazing work under difficult conditions for us a year ago in Hong Kong.
I'll come back to the Australia story in a moment, but remember when we sent Abby to Hong Kong to do Hong Kong reports?
Some incredible footage from that.
We're here at Wupo Station, one of many little protests that have broken out across the city.
We've got word that there's a bigger gathering at a local police station, so we're going to go check it out.
Tomorrow there is a mass protest in Hong Kong, which is organized, and they're expecting up to half a million people there.
This is just an ordinary night here in Hong Kong and one of many across the city where people are just spontaneously gathering.
So what we've got here is you've got hundreds of police in full riot gear, looking like they're in formation, getting ready to move on the crowds.
And this is crowds of, you know, people literally wearing protective gear.
A peaceful protest is what I would call this.
Everyone's been pretty nice to us.
I haven't seen any violence or intimidation or anything that would require police responding with such brute.
So you can see how they're how they're taking, they're taking over an entire block.
You've got, if you look down there, you've got massive police presence surrounding this area.
The tension is huge at the moment.
It is like you can feel like it's almost an invasion about to happen.
It's as if the crowds have doubled or quadrupled in minutes.
It's surreal.
What's interesting to note is that whilst they're trying to hold up, take the traffic down and block the cars, they never get violent.
So if a driver really pushes his way through a crowd, they let him through.
And I've noticed that each time now.
I only imagine over the next half an hour, they're going to block the road off.
That's what they're trying to do.
They're trying to cause mass disruption.
And that is what protest is about.
But I think it's important to note that even when they're doing this, they're kind of polite about it.
I think my favorite moment from his entire trip to Hong Kong, when he came across this guy and asked, do you have any advice for Donald Trump?
Donald's Unexpected Advice00:03:22
Oh my God, it was such a funny answer.
This video clip has been seen probably 20 million times in different formats.
Remember this?
What's your message to, have you seen Donald Trump?
Do you think he should step in?
Donald Trump don't trust China.
China is asshole.
It's so funny.
Avi later bummed into that guy who said he was a bit of a celebrity from that clip.
Anyways, Avi is courageous and he is willing to stare down the police, the communist Chinese police in Hong Kong, but they never grabbed him, threw him to the ground and arrested him like they did on Saturday in Melbourne, Australia.
I want to show you now Avi's full video.
That's a few minutes.
It's more than a few minutes, so maybe get yourself a cup of coffee or tea and watch this.
It's important that you see the whole thing.
Avi's such a consummate storyteller, but it's not just the story he tells.
Storyteller is the wrong word.
He's more like a litigator putting a case to a jury.
He brings his facts.
He brings his argument.
He anticipates objections.
He lays it out so clearly.
I want you to see it in its entirety rather than me just telling you about it.
So don't go anywhere.
I'll be here.
Watch this video by Avi that we put up online yesterday.
Already has more than a quarter million views.
And I'll come right back on the other side and take a look at this.
I want to start this report by firstly thanking everyone for all the love and support you've shown since the footage of my unprovoked and violent arrest on Saturday was released.
And an extra special thanks to the over 10,000 people who have already signed my petition.
It's humbling.
If you haven't signed it, I'm sure after watching this report, you're going to want to.
So when you're done, head over to standwithavi.com and sign and share my petition demanding an end to the Victorian police state that detains journalists for doing our job.
This report is going to show you what really happened on Saturday from the moment I head to the protest.
It exposes how police are abusing their new state of emergency powers and even worse, how the mainstream media is helping them get away with it.
Watch it from the beginning to the end and then share it far and wide.
This is one of the protests that I actually have no idea how it's going to end today.
We're now driving to the Freedom Day rally, the anti-lockdown protest that has been banned in Melbourne.
You've seen over the past week, we've seen Victoria police heavy-handedly kicking indoors, arresting pregnant women in their homes in an effort to stop this rally from happening today.
Police warned that the entrances into the city are going to be blocked, so we're expecting probably a roadblock here.
You're going to live it, experience it.
I'm going to take you all the way into the city and then to the protest and we're going to report on what's actually happening there because we know that the mainstream media is not going to give you the truth.
Here we go.
This is Dictator Dan speaking right now, live, on the way.
Victorians in hospital, 21 of those are receiving intensive care, and 15 of those, 21, are on a ventilator.
Ballarat has just two active cases.
Journalist Arrested for Two Cases00:15:34
There's two active cases.
They arrested her in front of her children, dragged her out of her home in cuffs for two active cases.
There's over 100,000 people who live in Ballarat.
The chances of her protest causing an outbreak, having any sort of risk, is near to none.
The crazy thing is during Black Lives Matter, they allowed those protests to happen where the threat was far more real at the time.
Here we go, we've got a roadblock ahead.
Apparently, COVID compliance checks stands for, is a euphemism for shutting down free protest.
here we go guys three in the car and they're filming is the problem There you go, mate.
Not too bad.
How are you?
Yeah, good.
There's my work permit.
What's your name?
Avi.
I've Yamini, that's my work permit, mate.
Your last name?
Yamini.
Internet publishing and broadcasting for news media purposes.
As per the guidelines.
Absolutely.
We've got three permits if you want.
That's fine.
They're all from the same house, I think.
Not from the same house.
We've got three separate permits if you need.
Yeah, but you're traveling inside a car.
That's part of the work.
That's the work.
The job is the whole journey.
So that's part of.
Can you describe the work to me?
So I'm a journalist for Rebel News under the Yomini report.
And this is my sound guy, that's my cameraman.
And our job today is to cover what is happening in the CBD and this.
We're going to ask you to park here so we can have a chat.
No problems.
Thank you, Parker.
Here we go.
I have it on my phone, yes.
Guys, can you provide the permits?
So they're obviously...
You're going to need permits.
Yeah, they've got the permits.
Give me the permits.
That's one permit.
Where's your work here?
Your work permit.
Okay, so we're starting at the shrine and then we're following it through to Parliament wherever it's going.
That's what it says on the permit as per the regulations.
Can I ask you to basically channel 9, channel 7, they're all coming here.
Are you going to question them the same way?
This is what we're doing here.
Okay, I'm just asking because you seem to not understand what the media does.
This is what we're doing here.
Here's the permits.
Here's the permits.
We are just doing the job.
Yeah, no, that's fine.
That's fine.
That's fine.
So let me make it clear.
We're going to cover the events in the CBD and the roadblocks and everything that was announced.
That's why we have three in a car.
have the permits as per the, here we go.
Thanks, mate.
And we are.
Yep, give me the IDs, boys.
You see it?
I think you know who I am.
How are you doing?
Having a good day?
In our work, you've got to stay very, very carefully within the guidelines because, unlike the mainstream media, I highly doubt they're doing this to the mainstream area.
Thank you, sir.
Just bear with me, Lord.
Yeah, no problem.
We're bearing right with you.
The world is very interested to see how they're going to react to media covering what's happening in Victoria.
Okay, thank you very much.
We have checked your money.
Thank you very much, sir.
Thank you for your service.
This is a crucial moment because police pulled us over.
They challenged me a little bit.
They didn't want me to go in, but I provided all the required legal documentation.
And in his words, they checked our credentials and were all right to go.
From here, we head straight to the Shrine of Remembrance, where the protests were planned to start.
I began doing my job just like any of the other journalists there.
2016.
He just said his opinion.
And just like the other journalists there, I followed the protesters as they marched for a good couple of hours to Albert Park.
Over the next few days, I'll release a lot more of what happened on the march.
I mean, like the stuff that you won't see in the mainstream media.
But this report, I want to focus on how the police behaved as they trapped the protesters by the Albert Park Lake.
So there's been numerous, quite intense, heavy-handed arrests here today.
We walked around for there was probably a good two hours where there was no arrest, no anything.
It was quite peaceful until this guy who's going to be placed under arrest right now.
I'm just going to stop here for a second.
As you can see, I was just doing my job.
There was no one even around me.
The bloke marched up to me while I was doing a piece to camera.
You can actually hear me laugh because I seriously thought he was joking.
If you watch my content before, you'll know that sometimes cops walk up to me and banter a little bit.
You know, I guess they like my work or they appreciate it or they find it funny or they see my sense of humour and they join in.
But I quickly realised that this power-hungry commander was not bantering.
No arrest, no anything.
It was quite peaceful until I was right now.
I am here.
I need that.
I've got my permit in my pocket.
My permit is in my pocket.
I'm fine.
I'm fine.
I've got my permit in my pocket.
I work for Rebel News.
I am lawfully here.
I've got my permit in my pocket.
My permit is in my pocket.
I'm fine.
I'm fine.
I've got my permit in my pocket.
I work for Rebel News.
I am lawfully here.
Can you grab that?
And that's my mic cover there.
Can you give it to my staff?
Mend this one.
Mend this one.
Can you grab the mic in the mic gate?
At this point, police forcibly take me away with my hands still cuffed behind my back like I'm some sort of violent criminal.
But what they didn't realize is I was still mic'd up and was recording everything they were about to say.
So what did I do exactly?
Hinder.
Hinder what?
How did I hinder?
How did I hinder?
I've got my permit in my back pocket.
I've got a pass.
I was at the roadblock.
I got let in properly.
I followed all the chief health officers.
All the chief health officers' directions.
I had the work permit and it was checked as I came in here by Victoria Police.
So I've got it all on camera.
Yeah, no, you're here for a hinder.
What hinder?
What's a hinder?
Hinder police.
What did I hinder police with?
How did I hinder police?
How did I hinder police?
Is that on?
Is that camera on?
Yeah, it's on.
It tends to go missing.
So how did I hinder police allegedly?
How did I allegedly hinder police?
That's what I'd like to know.
You've placed me under arrest.
You haven't told me how I've hindered police at all.
But we're totally under arrest, don't we?
Yeah, on what basis?
For what?
Basically, they couldn't get me for breaching any COVID restrictions, so they had to make up a hindering allegation.
Only there's one problem which you all witnessed.
I was alone with no one around me.
I wasn't stopping anyone from doing anything, let alone hindering police.
But the arresting officer then goes off and talks and left me alone with two other cops holding me still with my hands tightly cuffed because I was some sort of threat.
So I thought I might as well chat to them.
After all, I was there to get some answers.
I feel for you.
Why don't you think they did this with Black Lives Matter?
Why didn't they?
It wasn't illegal.
It was illegal to protest in Black Lives Matter, mate.
What?
It was.
It was stage.
So Ballarat's stage three.
Ballarat's the same.
Why is Ballarat illegal?
I don't have an opinion.
I'm asking you facts.
I don't answer your fault.
I'm having a conversation.
You've got me handcuffed.
I agree.
I agree.
I feel for you, bro.
I feel for you.
I feel for you that you have to do so.
I just want to understand why there's such a heavy-handed response to a protest that I'm not even a part of.
I don't actually agree with half these guys.
But the fact that you're going in like this, arresting journalists because why?
Because it's stage four.
But Ballarat's stage three, police.
You've seen that footage, yeah?
You're not Daniel Andrews.
I'm not going to deny that one.
To be honest, I don't really care.
And right there is the problem.
The government has given these unprecedented powers to a pack of power-hungry people who don't actually care.
Then suddenly I noticed when we were standing there a police officer from the police media unit walking by.
Police media unit.
How do you feel about them arresting somebody, a journalist?
I'm here as a journalist.
I have the passes.
I have the, they've got all my things there.
They've just arrested me out of nowhere.
I've rahungimini.
I work for Rebel News.
I've got my permit on me.
They've got it there.
They've arrested me for.
They now change it to hindering.
So I don't understand how they're in Victoria, in Melbourne, they've placed a journalist under arrest.
And a few minutes later, the arresting officer returns.
So I'm just going to give you a caution, alright?
This one between Passifa, you don't have to say how to do anything.
Anything you say to do, maybe give me evidence.
Do you understand that?
I do.
All right.
The hinder, you're between our police lines.
We've got two police lines.
You're in between.
Our four commanders asked you to move and you've got in his way.
When did he ask me to move?
The world is my witness.
You've all seen the footage.
He barges in as I'm doing a piece to camera pointing, going, this bloke is not here for purposeful reasons.
Put him under arrest.
Did anyone hear one time him asking me to move?
I would have complied.
I wasn't there to be in their way.
I was there to report what was happening on the ground.
It was obvious he didn't like me.
He knows me.
He recognises me.
He doesn't like the fact that I'm holding them accountable.
But don't take my word for it.
Let's watch it again.
Numerous, quite intense, heavy-handed arrests here today.
We walked around for there was probably a good two hours where there was no arrest, no anything.
It was quite peaceful until all the journalists were there.
I was where all the journalists were.
What's your reason for hindering police?
No comment.
Please call my lawyer.
I've got my lawyer in my pocket.
So now what's going to happen now?
You're getting released with inquiries pending.
So I'm getting released, a pending inquiry.
But I'm going to give you a direction to move on, all right?
So you're not allowed in the Albert Park precinct for the next 24 hours.
Excuse me, media police media unit.
Excuse me.
Police unit.
No, no, one second.
Police media unit.
I'm getting a direction as a journalist to move on from an event of public interest.
Is that okay?
Are you okay as a police media unit with this direction?
So are you okay with that?
And then after you've been released, after your arrest, I'll have a chat with you.
Okay.
That makes sense?
Yep, no.
Do you understand the arrest?
Yep.
Do you understand that 24 hours and you understand the area?
Yep.
And if you come back, it'll be a continuation with the police.
Well, I'm having a conversation with them.
You may get a ticket or you may get arrested again.
All right.
So just to quickly unpack that, they allege I was hindering police, which I can easily prove I wasn't.
And they're using that as the basis of their move-on order, which means I haven't committed any crime yet.
That's why they're releasing me.
But now they've issued me with this move-on order on a false pretense.
Now if I disobey that order, I'm committing a crime.
Do you see how that works?
In summary, they want to remove a journalist who is critical of the state issuing unchecked powers to police.
And this is their tactic to do so.
Go straight to the media person.
Yeah, I am.
I've got to find my staff.
Go straight to the media person if you don't go there.
I am going there, mate.
You're going to breach the pressure.
Don't threaten me.
Don't threaten me.
I'm not worried.
threatening me and you feel like oh yeah I'm making it very clear so you don't get I'm not worried I ain't worried about it.
Mate, you just need to do what you're being.
So if they tell you you're in the way they're trying to do their job.
I was never told that at first.
All right, it doesn't matter.
My point is, my one question that I have for you is as the media unit, the police media unit, do you think it's okay in Victoria that a journalist was arrested, let go straight away?
I had all the permits.
I told them I had the permits.
I was arrested and then given a move on direction from an event of obvious public interest.
Is that okay?
Are you cool?
Do you know what I told you before?
you need to do what you're being told by the police.
And what legislation did I breach the...
the police and if you've got a complaint to make, you need to go through the complaints system.
Okay?
What's your name?
Anita Brenz.
Anita Brents.
Yeah, I'm one of the sergeants at the media unit.
I'm happy to chat to you further about it, but just not at the moment, okay?
You've got to do what they say.
No.
But we're in a country where there's freedom of press.
There's freedom of press.
And you should hold that dear.
Now, as a journalist, I was arrested in front of everyone.
I've got all the footage.
I was arrested, thrown to the ground with my permit in my pocket.
I showed the police before coming in here, and then I was given a move on order as a journalist.
This is 2020 in Victoria.
This is not supposed to be a police day.
How convenient for the police, eh?
Leave now, comply, complain later.
Who should I complain to exactly?
The police?
So they can do some sort of internal review?
I'm good.
We're going to go above the police.
That's why I need you to sign and share the petition at standwithovy.com.
But my day didn't end there at the protest.
I head towards my camera guys who were waiting for me so we could leave together as we did.
We came together when I noticed that they were standing where a couple of journalists who had actually seen me under arrest.
And I thought I'd take the opportunity to ask them how they felt about my treatment.
There was some young Channel 9 journalist, I don't really know him, and there was a guy called Paul Dowsley who has more than 25 years under his belt with Channel 7 News.
They just happened to be standing exactly where my camera guys were waiting for me.
You got that caution there, yeah?
You got that caution.
See, I didn't get that caution, and they threw me onto the ground.
Can you put your mask on?
All the guys, all right?
Do you think it's cool that they're throwing journalists down on the ground?
I didn't see what led to your caution.
You got moved on, correct?
I saw that when I was arrested.
What was that move on for?
Just because we're in a police safe zone.
Journalists Arrested?00:11:54
Okay.
They claim that I breached that, and then the footage is hectic of throwing me onto the ground based on that.
Have you ever seen that in Victoria?
So can you please put your mask on while you're near me?
You're allowed to, as a journalist, that's.
It's still unsafe for the like that.
Can you put your mask on, please?
Are you allowed to film as a journalist without your mask on?
Yes?
Only when socially distanced.
Socially distanced.
And socially distanced.
Okay, so can I ask you?
I'm about to go.
I'm moving on.
So you're not 1.5 from me.
Can you stop that, please?
They've got their face masks on.
Okay, so I'm just asking a question.
When they interview, they don't have their face masks on.
I'm just asking you, have you ever seen in Victoria a journalist thrown to the ground doing his job, obviously covering an event of public interest?
This is public interest, yes.
Have you ever seen that in Victoria as a journalist?
I also did not see you get thrown into the journey.
The footage is going on.
I've got the footage.
Let's say it's true.
Have you ever seen that?
Yes or no?
I don't want to comment on something I haven't seen, sir.
Okay, mate.
Now you've seen it.
Can you comment?
I'm not holding my breath.
I offered to show it to him around the corner, but he didn't want to come.
But a junior journalist pretending he didn't see what happened or even the cops abusing their power again didn't bother me that much.
It was to be expected.
What bothered me was the fact that a very experienced journalist didn't seem interested at all.
Are you cool with that?
I've got a walk real family.
Arresting a fellow journalist is kind of a big story.
It's huge.
It's what they do in communist China.
What I didn't realize is until I was reviewing the footage is that my cameraman just happened to capture the journalists talking between themselves before I got there.
Have a listen to what Paul Dowsley was saying off camera.
Same here.
They threatened me with the rest.
For being in a park.
He was like, you're in a place on camera.
What is it for the police officer over there?
He told me to go and stand next to the police meeting.
You're not listening to me.
I'm like, I can't see consistency.
Consistency.
That's what you hope.
A clear, consistent message.
I'm talking about to the media.
Paul Dowsley doesn't mince his words when it comes to describing the police there on that day.
Tread Maimonides.
Now it's clear that Paul knew exactly what happened to me and that police in general were out of control at the protest on the weekend.
But guess what?
The seasoned journalist didn't feel the need to tell the truth in his report on Seven News that night.
This is exactly why no one can trust the mainstream media.
Because when they think there's no camera, they tell a completely different story.
But I guess I can't go too hard on Paul.
Because, after all, who wants to pay the price of holding the state accountable?
That night, after not being charged with any crime, not even being fined, I got a visit in a clear attempt of intimidation.
Wasn't he involved in a protest?
Okay.
Oh, your name was.
I wasn't.
No, no.
You were there, though.
So let's not dispute that.
Are you going to Channel 9 tonight?
Are you going to Channel 9's house?
Are you going to see the journalists in Channel 7, Channel 9?
Are you going to their house tonight to compliance check?
If their name's on our list because they were process-free hindering, then yes, we will be.
So I was there as media.
Okay.
Okay.
And the world's seen exactly like the first 10 seconds of the arrest, which is not the whole video.
I've got everything from the moment that you guys let me into the rally, checked all my paperwork, and then arrested me.
I've never been, no, I was never asked.
I was never asked to move on.
Nothing like that.
That is a lie.
Okay, well, I'm not here to dispute that.
So I've never not complied.
You're coming to my house with my kids in the middle of the night when I have never not complied.
And like every other journalist here, don't come to my house.
Okay, you're not on our list because there's that.
I'm Senior Constable Barrett.
Barrett.
I'm from Frankson Police.
It narrows it down.
Yeah, so you can take me off your list because you're not welcome at my house to do a compliance check to journalists who you are.
If we've got information that suggests that you're acting in the middle of the day, show me one place where I've acted.
I I report, I'm a commentator, I'm in the media.
Don't come to my house again.
We'll see you tomorrow.
You're on a list.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Police have crossed the line, and I need your help to fight back.
So please, again, sign and share the petition at standwithavi.com because together we can win.
I don't need Paul Dowsey or any other fake news journalists.
I need you to stand with me and to share the truth.
Well, thank you for watching that entire video.
Would you agree with me?
Not only was it gripping, was it shocking, but it was very well done.
And I have to say, I don't think one in 100 people would have the composure and the cool to be slammed onto the ground by a bunch of cops and not to swear, not to shout, not to insult, not to object, not even to raise the register of his voice, just to say, hey, I'm with Rebel News.
My permit's in my pocket.
I'm with Rebel News.
My permit's in my pocket.
How he kept his cool, I'll never know.
I certainly wouldn't have been able to do that.
It got crazier, as you saw when they went to his house afterwards.
Well, the thing is, Avi's joined Rebel News now.
He's not just with TR News or on his own.
He's with a team of reporters.
Well, unfortunately, we've become used to fighting back against an anti-FAMOB and even against politicized police.
You saw how we were there for David Menzies last week.
What do I do now?
Would you like me to play hands?
Peel Regional Police.
Brampton's finest arresting a journalist for trying to ask questions of the mayor.
They're errand boys for the mayor.
Can we back up?
Peel Regional Police pulling their men off of a mass shooting at the cemetery.
It's an officer safety.
Don't lie.
Please don't lie.
Stop lying.
You're at the back of my officers.
My colleagues, you're not listening to me.
You're not listening to the law, mate.
You're not listening to the law.
This is public property.
There's a different standard for the trespass act and public property.
Take it up a proper way instead of coming up here.
Like, what's getting you?
Why are you listening to a hand-scrawled note that's not even served?
Does he have it in his hand?
I could verbally ask you or tell you that you're not allowed to do it.
If I didn't have the right to be here, he has the right to be here.
Not one agent of the property has asked you not to.
Not on public property, mate.
You're confusing private property with public property.
We will.
Look at this.
Four cars and all you cops pulled off the shooting file.
You must be proud.
Five squad cars sent to arrest David Menzies.
David was jammed into the back of a police car and given a $65 trespass ticket.
It was outrageous.
It was illegal.
It was false imprisonment.
And it was all based on a junk trespass notice by a thin-skinned mayor.
We defended David and we will defend him all the way to the Supreme Court.
And guess what?
We're going to do that for Avi too.
Avi is doing important journalism for us here at Rebel News and for our viewers around the world.
He's telling stories about Melbourne to other people in Melbourne, to Australians who don't know how bad it is in their own country because as you saw, the legacy media journalists are afraid to even tell what they themselves think and experience.
Avi's here to tell the story of Australia, but he's also there to fight for Australian freedoms.
And in a way, fighting for freedom in Australia isn't just about him himself and about other Australians.
I think it's part of the entire English-speaking world, the entire free world, fighting back against the tyranny that has sneaked in like a stowaway along with the pandemic policies.
We all said, yes, we accept emergency government powers to get through this public health crisis.
Two weeks to flatten the curve.
Well, two weeks looks like it's going to turn into two years pretty quick.
The emergency powers, once granted, don't seem easy to take back.
In New Zealand, they actually postponed the election.
I'm terrified that they may do the same here in Canada.
Is that over the top?
Is that crazy?
Well, you tell me who's crazy when the police slam a reporter on the ground in Melbourne and force a mask on people physically.
It's terrifying to me.
And I see the role of the rebel here in Canada, where our base is, but also around the world, is to tell stories about freedom, but also occasionally, where appropriate, to actually fight for freedom too.
And we're going to do that for Avi in Melbourne.
If you want to sign our petition, go to standwithavi.com.
And in the days and weeks ahead, when we fight back for Avi and for ourselves, and in so doing, for all Australians, I hope you'll follow along with that too.
Stay with us.
I'll have the man on in a moment, himself.
This guy here is going here for any purposes and reasons.
He's going to be under arrest.
But this guy here is going to be placed under arrest right now.
I'm under arrest.
I am here.
I need that.
I've got my permit in my pocket.
My permit is in my pocket.
I've got my permit in my pocket.
I work for Rebel News.
I am lawfully here.
I've got my permit in my pocket.
What does that mean that Avi didn't have any purposeful reason for being there?
I've never heard that phrase before.
He had whatever reason he wanted, whatever purposes he chose.
We don't need our purposes approved by a police state.
His purpose was obvious.
He was doing journalism in an event of great public interest.
Well, that is why he was arrested.
And joining us now via Skype from Melbourne, Australia is our newest teammate, Avi Yamini.
Avi, great to see you again.
You joined us on Friday.
You were arrested on Saturday.
Sorry about that, mate.
That's what a real rebel's about.
Well, of course, we know you from before.
We've got to know you from the UK covering Tommy Robinson's travails together.
You worked for Tommy for a while with TR.news.
Tommy's on other projects.
I tell you, it's so nice to have you work with Rebel News.
It's like you were built for Rebel News.
You're a bit of a rebel yourself.
It's exciting times.
It is exciting.
And, you know, the first project I've done now, I feel like I fit right in.
And the team works so well together that, you know, from the minute that I was in custody, you were, I don't even know what time it was for you there in Canada, but you were talking to Rhonda and organizing things.
Like by the time I got out, which wasn't, I wasn't in there for that long, and you'd already spoke to you almost immediately and you were up to date and you were ahead taking care of the situations.
It's really, it's really exciting to be on this team now.
Well, it's nice of you to say the time zone is very difficult because when you're going to bed, we're waking up and vice versa.
Captured Moments Matter00:10:21
But I trust your judgment so much.
Your work is so strong.
And you are in, I believe, the city of Melbourne, which is a wonderful city I had the pleasure of visiting.
I think it is actually the most locked down, most civil liberties abused city in the Western world.
I'm not going to say in the whole world because there's probably some of the things that we're going to do.
Well, look, well, when you look at lockdown, when you look at lockdown and even compare it to China, our lockdown has been more severe.
So when it comes to dealing with COVID-19, it is certainly the most restricted in the world.
You know what?
The way you were treated there reminds me of when you went to Hong Kong.
And I really think that was a shining moment for you when you did accountability journalism and told the story of the Hong Kong democracy protesters around the world with a sense of humor.
And you were courageous in the face of their riot police.
I have to say, in all of your reports, I never saw Hong Kong riot police do what was done to you in Melbourne.
Maybe I missed it, but I think that the Melbourne police are just as rough as the Hong Kong police.
I know that people aren't sent away to gulags in Melbourne yet, but the police work was just as brutal as anything you showed from Hong Kong.
I've been to protests all around the world.
And the only other place that I can compare it to rightfully is Hong Kong.
I was saying this today.
The only difference really was tear gas, but their tactics were very similar in the way they tried to pick out and trap person by person and targeting the media.
But like you said, even with all that, in Hong Kong, I'd never been tackled by, I don't know, what was it, six officers to the ground.
Wasn't resisting compliance.
It was the most surreal, bizarre situation to be in here in Melbourne, Australia.
In Hong Kong, I probably would have accepted, I would have expected it.
Not in Melbourne.
But I'm glad that I just was able to capture it on camera so people can see what happens when you give such power to power-hungry people.
And you know, humans are not built to be given such power.
I have all the respect in the world for police, but they have their role and they're meant to serve the community.
The problem when you start giving them these state of emergency powers that allows them these full reign over the people and starts to give them this idea that they're somehow controlling the people instead of protecting the people.
Well, that's the natural result.
Even before, and obviously a lot of the footage that we captured there is still going to come, but even before, until the police tactics, when they came in, it was almost like they felt they were above the law.
Nobody has any rights.
It doesn't matter who you are.
Most of the mainstream media, as you saw, were willing to accept that.
But they just absolutely did not respect anybody's right of anything.
Yeah.
Well, and it was, that was perhaps the most telling part of your video: you spoke to two mainstream media journalists from legacy stations, Channel 7, Channel 9, large, long-time TV stations in Australia.
And when you spoke to them, when your camera was running, when you were talking to them, they said, oh, I don't know what you're talking about.
No, I can't comment, mate.
Don't know what you mean.
But your cameraman just happened to catch them banning.
And I was watching it.
And let me throw a clip to how they really felt about things, but wouldn't say on camera, wouldn't say in public.
Only by accident was this captured.
Take a look at this.
Same here.
That's right.
To be in a chauvin in a park.
He's like, you're in a place on the camera.
What if it's a little bit officer over there?
He told me to go and stay next to police baby.
I don't want to listen to me.
That's the thing.
I don't listen.
Come on.
Thank you.
You said consistency.
Yeah.
Consistency, that's right.
That's what you hope for, a clear, consistent message.
I'm talking about it.
Avi, what I see there is terrifying.
You see legacy media journalists who know the true depth of the problem, who are personally outraged, angry, offended, but are biting their tongue and just towing the line.
Everything's fine.
Personally, they know that there's deep trouble in Melbourne, but they won't breathe a peep of it in public.
That's their job is to report and warn the people, but they're not.
I wonder why.
It's shocking.
And I went back to Paul Dowsey, for example, for Channel 7.
I went back specifically to watch his report, hoping that he'd mentioned it, hoping that he said something about it, especially because it happened to him and he was so outraged about it.
You know, he expressed it in his direct language in a very Australian manner.
I didn't expect him to use the same language, but to kind of paint that picture.
But no, the only picture he painted is that the protesters were just a bunch of crackpot, you know, low-class nutcases that were breaking the law by being there and protesting.
And police were going hard on them, but he was kind of implying so they should, which was not really how he felt.
And, you know, it was when I came across that footage during the editing and I'd seen it.
I felt vindicated.
Like, you see, I told you I was saying the truth.
The problem wasn't me, it was you guys.
And it's the fact that you're unwilling to tell the world and to share the truth with the rest of the world.
People want to know what's happening.
And it's scary because there are, I was having a conversation with people in the media here who don't go out on the street, who actually rely on the TV networks, the mainstream TV networks, to kind of get a sense of what's happening at these different events.
And then they commentate on it.
But you see, all the images that they're seeing until we can go onto the streets, all the images that they're seeing across all the channels from the state run to the commercial ones, is this narrative that the police are fine and the government's fine and they're not overreaching.
It's just these crazy conspiracy theories.
You know, the fact that the journalists are lying to themselves, and we've got the proof of that, you got the proof of that, is just the most incredible thing.
Well, listen, it's so great to have you as a rebel.
We like to defend our talent.
I mean, just last week, our friend in Toronto, David Menzies, was arrested.
He wasn't slammed to the ground, thank God, but he was stuffed in the back of a police car for a period of time, completely unnecessary.
And like in your case, he didn't do anything that warranted an arrest.
We believe in defending our journalists physically, if that's an issue.
Now, we're not going to have a private security to defend you against the police.
That doesn't work.
But to defend you legally.
And from what I understand, there's no charges pending against you.
But I think the other, the reverse could be true.
I think what I saw happen to you and what the world saw happen to you.
Last I checked, your videos doing incredibly well.
People all around the world are riveted by what they're seeing for the first time from Melbourne.
I think you could have a claim against those police for a number of things.
And again, we, 99% of the time, we stand with the police, we support the police, we like the police.
But when they become political errand boys smashing the enemies of the state for partisan reasons, we have to fight back.
And I, you know, we'll have to talk more about this later.
But I see suing the police for assault, battery.
They came around your house later in a harassing way.
I think that, frankly, you wouldn't just be doing yourself a favor by suing.
You would be setting down a marker that all people in your state of Victoria, the big state in Australia.
Absolutely.
I think it would be the beginning of a pushback, people reclaiming their civil liberties.
We'd love to help you with that if that's something you're interested in doing.
Of course, I think it's, I think here everybody's looking for somebody to do something about it because everyone's feeling helpless.
And, you know, it has to end because if they could do that so brazenly in front of people, and, you know, he knew that I was being filmed.
That's the thing.
He knew I was being filmed.
So if they're willing to do that to me in front of a camera, then what are they going to do to the next person?
And where are our basic, most fundamental rights going?
Just like I was thinking about it today, thinking, imagine anybody else acted that way, not the cops.
If a group of boys went and knocked somebody down like that who was just working, went up to a journalist.
But they weren't holding a badge.
But in exactly the same circumstances, they would be put in jail.
I'm not asking for the police to be put in jail.
I'm asking for them to apply that kind of force where it belongs, and that's against criminals.
The ironic thing here is that in the state of Victoria, youth gangs have run riot.
They've held our city hostage.
The police have never acted like that.
I didn't even know we had that many critical response units.
I've never seen that.
This was a translation mobile cop.
I've never seen such an outfit before.
It looked like stormtroopers.
Welcome Aboard: Fighting for Freedom00:03:01
I've been across rallies here for years.
I did not even know we had that many, and they should be put to good use, but to protect citizens and civilians not attack journalists.
And I'm with you, and I'm really excited.
And I'm humbled by the amount of support we've been getting from all the rebel subscribers that have been writing to me, asking how they can help.
I can't even get to the messages.
I'm inundated on every single platform.
And we're in this together.
They like to say that here about the COVID.
I'd say we're in this together for the pushback.
And I'm sure we'll get some good news soon.
Right on.
Well, it's baptism by fire, as they say.
Welcome aboard.
It's great to talk with you.
Thanks for staying up so extremely late.
The time zone makes it difficult.
But other than that, I tell you, you're an integral part of our team here.
We're going to do our best to work with you to defend your right to practice journalism in Australia.
And we do that often by crowdfunding legal actions.
It would not surprise me if we were able to come up with a solution even this week.
We have to let not just the Victoria police, but everyone in the state of Victoria, everyone in Australia, and everyone in the free world that you cannot allow politicians to flatten the curve of our civil liberties.
Avi Yamini, welcome aboard.
Thanks for joining us.
Really exciting.
Thanks for having me, Azure, anytime.
All right, there you have it.
Avi Yamini of Melbourne, Australia, the newest rebel journalist.
One day after joining the team, he was arrested.
Well, you know how we respond to that.
We don't bend the knee, and we're going to work with Avi to get a little justice.
Stay with us.
more ahead.
Well, that's a lot of Avi Yamini in one place.
He's quite a character.
He reminds me in some ways of our mutual friend Tommy Robinson.
I love the Australian accent.
I love how he likes to fight.
I think we're going to win down there, and I think we're going to revive our Australian viewership.
Remember, we had a character called Mark Latham who did videos for us from Australia for a while.
It's great to have feet on the ground in Australia again.
And I think we're going to fight for freedom there, not just for Avi, but for a lot of other people too.
What do you think about that?
The Rebel's growing these days, isn't it?
We've got tons of new reporters here in Canada.
Tamara Ugalini in Ontario.
Drea Humphrey doing a great job out there in Vancouver.
Here at our Toronto World Headquarters, Andrew Chapatos, coming on TV from time to time more and more often.
I feel really good about how Rebel News is doing.
Even our chairman of the board, of our advisory board, Rahil Raza, doing great videos.
I feel like we're doing well, and it's important that we do well, because these are dangerous days for us and for the world.