Police in Victoria, Australia, on Wednesday arrested libertarian commentator and independent documentary filmmaker Topher Field for “incitement,” and “breaking health orders.” Field has been an outspoken critic of the Victorian government’s tyrannical COVID mandates, and is currently working on a documentary chronicling the government’s misuse of police authority in the southeastern Australian state.
He was released later Wednesday, and is now back at home under bail conditions.
Field live-streamed his arrest this morning in Melbourne after two police officers showed up at his home and announced they were arresting him.
The video begins with the officers standing with him outside his house, telling him they had previously tried to notify him of the arrest via a phone call.
“I didn’t want to do it in front of your kids that’s all, out of respect for you and that kind of thing,” the officer said. Field later explained that he saw two calls on his cell phone but didn’t answer them because they were blocked.
Field told the officer that he needed to have “a quick word” with his wife, and walked back into his house, continuing his livestream on Facebook Live.
“What happened?” his wife, who was holding their baby girl, asked.
“Police here to take me down to the station, so I am going to head down with them and have a chat and see what they have to say,” he replied.
“Why?!” his wife exclaimed.
“Apparently [they are] telling me that I have been ‘inciting’ so … ”
“What?!” his wife cried. “That’s ridiculous.”
“We will see what the bail conditions are, that’s really what’s going to set the tone for what happens here going forward,” he continued.
“I’m shaking,” his wife said.
“If the bail conditions are reasonable, then I might be out today. If they are unreasonable, then I may very well not be, so we’ll see,” Field concluded.
He asked his viewers to “spread the word” about his arrest and “make sure everyone knows the police have now come and arrested me.”
Welcome to Australia.. where filming a crime is a crime. Melbourne police arrest Topher Feild.. Topher was about to release a documentary on police violence in Victoria.. now he’s in jail under the false crime of incitement..! pic.twitter.com/efpXBFvKg6
— Pelham (@Resist_05) October 13, 2021
Victorian police in recent weeks have been cracking down on “anti-lockdown” protests in the state, arresting people who have participated for “breaking health orders,” and “incitement.”
Earlier this month, the Australian government announced a sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all “authorised workers,” Epoch Times reported.
Victoria’s Premier, Daniel Andrews, announced on Oct. 1 that everyone with a job on the state’s “authorised worker” list must have a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Oct. 15, and a second dose by Nov. 26 to keep working on site, lest they risk losing their job.
The requirement covers a vast range of professions spanning 1 million to 1.25 million people in Victoria. The vaccination deadline is separate from another deadline that’s being imposed on those working in aged care, health care, construction, education, and freight.
Victorian residents marched along Southbank Boulevard in downtown Melbourne and the track around the Royal Botanic Gardens. Participants carried a large white banner with the word “Freedom” and voiced their dissent against vaccine mandates, lockdowns, and the current state government.
The state continues to urge people to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and has promised to ease restrictions once 80 percent of people are fully vaccinated.
Rukshan Fernando, another Australian independent journalist, commented on Field’s arrest in a Facebook Live video on Wednesday.
“This is what Australia, particularly in Victoria, has come to, where we are seeing more and more people being arrested for political reasons to be shut up, to be given ridiculous bail conditions,” Fernando said. “And we continue to see this, we continue to see our country go down this path and it’s not healthy.”
“You’re finding again, with this arrest of Topher Field, they’re [the police] coming after people who are being vocal, who are talking about these issues, who are raising questions that some of the media will not cover,” he said.
“The police and the government want you to believe that everyone is on side, that everyone shares the same single view, they do not want political dissent, they do not want criticism, they definitely don’t want protest,” Fernando added.
He later updated to say that Field “has been released and is now back at home under bail conditions.”
Field said in a Facebook Live video later in the day that the bail conditions were very reasonable, and he has a court date for January 19, 2022. The videographer said that he was arrested on “two charges of incitement, and two charges of breaking public health orders.”
He stressed that the police who arrested him were “very lovely.”
“Honestly, when all this is over, I would quite happily try and catch up with them socially, and actually get to know them. Because both of them were lovely.”
As restrictions have continued across metropolitan Melbourne and other parts of Victoria, numerous videos have emerged online showing police brutality against anti-lockdown protesters, and police showing up at the door of Victorian citizens who have posted information about protests on social media.
This is absolutely INSANE.. Australian police try fine a man for posting a picture of himself at a protest 6 months ago..! pic.twitter.com/ycMeoS0CHk
— Pelham (@Resist_05) October 10, 2021
Fox News host Tucker Carlson last week “updated” his viewers on Australia’s long slide into tyranny.