Channel 7 reporter Paul Dowsley on air after being attacked. Photo / 7 News
Channel 7 reporter Paul Dowsley on air after being attacked. Photo / 7 News
A star Channel 7 reporter has responded to an ugly attack during Melbourne's violent tradie protest yesterday, where he was grabbed around the neck and doused in what's thought to be urine.
Reporter Paul Dowsley was covering the second day of protests over mandatory vaccinations as demonstrators marched from a union headquarters to Parliament House when he and his cameraman were set upon by an angry mob.
Images showed he was grabbed around the neck, before others joined in on the fracas.
"The outcome of that was Rick, my cameraman colleague, and myself, now being covered in what I believe is urine," he said in a live cross shortly after.
"I believe that this has been thrown in my mouth, it's all over me."
"What happened came out of nowhere. Didn't see it coming. It's such a cowardly way to behave."
Barr asked whether members of the crowd were "deliberately targeting" the media.
"Absolutely. We were a key target, along with police. They also targeted some motorists up on the West Gate, but generally it was police and the media," Dowsley replied.
"They believe we are not reporting their cause, and it's hard to do that when they just shout at you when you try to talk to them. I tried to communicate with several of them and they just shout you down, right up in your grill.
"There were a few who did explain it's about the mandatory vaccinations in their industry. They think it's unfair and shouldn't be forced. And they are furious because now the industry has been shut down for a couple of weeks. Even though the chief health officer has explained this is a problem in the industry for weeks - hundreds of active cases in construction."
The moment Channel 7 reporter Paul Dowsley is attacked by a protester at Melbourne's anti-vax rally on Tuesday. Photo / Channel 7
He said there had been "an enormous shift in the mood" towards members of the media, albeit from "small groups".
"You think of this industry, it's 300,000 people in Victoria. The group was just a few hundred, and even whether they were all from that industry is a mystery. Who's to know what the make-up of this group was," Dowsley said.
"I have no doubt there were people who purely turned up for violence, and they got it."
Dowsley said yesterday a couple of protesters had come back after the attack and told him "I hope you're okay, that is not what were about", and were "absolutely appalled" by the scene.
"I've been grabbed around the neck today, I've had urine tipped on me, now I've had a can of energy drink thrown on me," he said.
Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari condemned the attack on Dowsley.
"Paul is a worker doing his job. Attacking him is disgusting," he said on Twitter.
"We condemn this. Every worker should come home safely."
Yesterday's chaos was the second day in a row of protests, with hundreds of protesters dressed in fluoros rallying against mandatory vaccinations for construction workers and the immediate shutdown of the industry.
Rallies are expected to continue today with no end date in sight as police fail to contain the riotous crowds.
Channel 7 reporter Paul Dowsley on air after being attacked. Photo / 7 News
Setka earlier labelled some of the protesters "drunken morons" and "extremists" and claimed only a small minority were actually union members.
He vowed to hunt down those responsible for "desecrating" their office during ugly anti-vax protests, but as of today was yet to boot any member from the union.
