This is in Ripponlea in Australia, as some members of an illegal Rosh Hashana minyan broke the rules of the tight lockdown. As police found out about the minyan, they surrounded the area for 14 hours as members of the minyan refused to let them in and they waited for the members to come out. Each adult member was fined over $5000. Some members tried to avoid being caught by escaping through various other places of egress, including via the roof.
According to news reports, they have been meeting illegally for a while already, operating under the guise of a legal support group similar to AA.
According to YWN, a community activist justified the minyan saying:
“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.”
The activist, of course, compared Melbourne authorities to Nazi Germany - there is nothing more Jewish than that:
Melbourne felt somewhat like Nazi Germany this year Rosh Hashana.. as police sieged a Shul for 14 hours
I don't even know what to say. We have all read about how strict the extended lockdowns have been in Australia. This is an example of how strict they have been. A 14 hour standoff? Wow. I guess that gave them enough time to get all the services in (at least one day's worth) before being caught and fined. At least they got their money's worth!
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