A woman has been taken away in an ambulance after being tackled by police in tense scenes following a walking COVID-19 protest in Newcastle on Saturday.
The woman, who was wearing a shirt that said 'No poison in my body', was being spoken to by police near Reserve Road and King Edward Park at The Hill about 12.30pm when she ran from officers.
An officer then tackled her to the ground, where she remained until an ambulance arrived and took her to John Hunter Hospital. An Ambulance NSW spokesperson said they were told the woman had injured her hip.
Another woman was also detained by police and taken from the scene in a police paddy wagon after getting into a verbal altercation with officers.
Police have been contacted for comment.
The incident came after about a dozen people marched from Nobbys towards Merewether on Saturday. Protests are being held in cities around the country relating to COVID-19 lockdowns and Public Health Orders.
Prior to the incident on Reserve Road, the marchers said they were "walking peacefully" to make a stance against the "government approach" to COVID-19.
One woman said she believes there is a virus but that "900 people died of the flu" in a recent year.
The people were walking in pairs and one was wearing a sign on their back that said "no to mandatory experimental vaccines", while another sign on a shirt said "masks don't work read the research".
Numerous police officers met with the group at Reserve Road, with more than a dozen officers on scene after the woman was tackled.
Police attempted to take details from people at the scene and eventually moved them on. It is believed some were not carrying identification.
There were chants of "police brutality" after the incident and one woman started doing star jumps when police told her if she was not exercising she needed to leave.
Larger protests were held in capital cities around the country with flares let off and police pepper spraying people who had gathered in large groups in defiance of public health orders.
During the state-wide police operation, 47 people were arrested and were in the process of being charged late on Saturday afternoon.
