CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Melbourne residents loitering outside iconic Melbourne foot malls have been surprised to see the new ‘gun-bollards’ that had been installed overnight as part of Victoria’s increased security measures.
Up to 140 of the anti-terror computerised street sentry machine guns were placed across eight prominent Melbourne sites overnight including the Queen Victoria Market, Flinders Street Station and Federation Square – in an effort from local and state governments to prevent similar vehicle-style terror attacks that have occurred in London, Niece, Stockholm and Berlin.
Residents say they aren’t really sure how they feel about these sentry guns that are programmed to be automatically aimed and fired at targets that are detected by sensors.
“Whats the go. What can and can’t they shoot?” asks one punter, Mal Barne.
“Are they gonna be cleaning up bagsnatchers, or just the real baddies?”
“Like are they’re not that good on the eye, but they might make up for it in firepower”.
While the city adjusts to the scary new safety measures, and what they represent – State government is asking the region’s art students to please refrain from drawing pretty things on the guns.
“Please don’t draw flowers on these things or wrap them in knitted materials” asked Premier Daniel Andrews.
“Just leave them be. They aren’t meant to be pretty, they are meant to instil a feeling of fear and misplaced animosity… That’s it”
Victorian authorities say they will remove painted artwork from security bollards in Melbourne’s CBD after a graffiti artist says he was stopped by police while working on one of the concrete blocks.
