As police in Sydney brace for another anti-lockdown protest on Saturday, organisers of last week's demonstration are telling people to stay away from the event, calling it a "police trap".
Police in Sydney set up an exclusion zone in the city's CBD on Saturday to avoid a repeat of last week's protest, when around 3500 people took to the streets to complain against the city's ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
Authorities called last week's demonstration "absolutely disgraceful" and warned it could turn into a super-spreader event.
And with another protest planned today police are out in force, with up to 1000 officers deployed across the city.
But according to news.com.au, one group involved in organising last week's anti-lockdown protest said no official demonstrations have been planned and warned anyone thinking of protesting today to stay away.
"We strongly advise against attending any protest events that claim to be operating," organisers told their followers on Telegram.
"Any planned event lacks an established ground team, and has been given insufficient promotional time and effort.
"Events claimed to be operated were fabricated from crudely edited versions of the poster used for the World Wide Rally for Freedom in Sydney, without the permission of the event's organisers.
"Please standby for future events … that are operated by established organising teams."
Another group warned Saturday's protest was "apparently a police trap".
"No protest today! It's a trap. Don’t go," news.com.au reported the group as saying.
After rumours spread earlier this week that another protest was planned for this weekend, New South Wales police warned anyone thinking of attending that they "will be arrested".
"We will take the ground very early. You will be arrested and prosecuted," NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said earlier this week.
New South Wales reported 210 new community cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, as the state continues to battle its latest outbreak of the Delta variant.
