Several police officers were wounded and hundreds of protesters were arrested across Australia as violent clashes erupted at anti-lockdown marches.
Australia has been grappling with an outbreak of the Delta variant of the coronavirus since mid-June, with both Sydney and Melbourne, and the capital Canberra, in strict lockdowns for weeks now.
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About 700 people managed to gather in parts of Melbourne, as 2,000 officers made the city centre virtually a no-go zone. Police set up checkpoints and barricades and all public transport and ride shares into the city were suspended.
In Sydney, riot squad officers, highway patrol, detectives and general duties police were also deployed to the streets
Police said several officers were knocked to the ground and trampled during the clashes with protesters.
Officers used pepper spray and arrested 235 people in Melbourne and 32 in Sydney as several hundred attendees at unsanctioned anti-lockdown rallies flouted stay-at-home orders issued in the wake of a spike in Covid cases.