'What is this, China?' Sam Armytage blasts police for threatening to arrest two elderly women sitting on a park bench in Melbourne - and says 'people are going to break the rules' as she condemns Daniel Andrews' road map
- Sam Armytage has blasted police officers who confronted two elderly women
- The Sunrise host compared the incident and Melbourne's lockdown to China
- Footage from Saturday showed an officer snatch a phone off one of the women
- The video was taken as disgruntled Melburnians protested against lockdown
Sam Armytage has blasted the Victoria Police officers who threatened to arrest two elderly women sitting on a park bench during Melbourne's coronavirus lockdown.
Dramatic footage of the heavy-handed confrontation, first obtained by Daily Mail Australia, showed five officers surrounding the frail women on Saturday.
Officers ordered them to stand up, threatened to arrest them for not providing their details and then snatched one of their phones when they started filming the ordeal.
A fired-up Armytage spoke about the footage on Sunrise on Tuesday morning and compared the incident - and the city's current Stage Four lockdown - to China.

'Victorians are sick to death of this': Sam Armytage blasted Daniel Andrews for extending Melbourne's lockdown and said footage of two elderly women being confronted by police reminded her of China
'What is this, China? You are getting arrested for filming things?' she said.
'Yes they were not meant to be sitting there under the rules. Who is making these rules? It is ridiculous.'
Armytage was joined by Justice Party leader Derryn Hinch and journalist Sharri Markson to debate the draconian measures.
Hinch said he agreed with the action taken by Victoria Police.
'I'm on the cop's side, they're doing it tough down here. We're all doing it tough down here,' he said.
'If they ask you for your name and address then you must provide it.
'I don't care if you're 17 or 70, by doing what you're doing, protesting last weekend, you're putting not only your own lives at risk, you're putting my life at risk. You're putting everybody's life at risk.'


Five officers were filmed by a bystander swarming around two elderly women sitting on a park bench in the Victorian capital on Saturday
Markson bit back at Hinch's comments, declaring the two women were not impacting anyone's life by sitting on a park bench.
'They are not risking your life by sitting on a park bench,' she said.
'It reminds me of those scenes in Sydney when we had the first pandemic and those two mums - one of them was breastfeeding - and the police made them move on as well.
'This is just too heavy-handed.'
Armytage was then forced to interject as her two guests continued to talk over each other.
The Sunrise host said she refused to call Premier Daniel Andrews' proposal out of coronavirus lockdown a 'road map'.
'Because road map suggests there is a plan and this is not necessarily a plan,' she said.
'We saw protests in Melbourne last weekend, there's going to be more this weekend.
'Victorians are sick to death of this and there is going to be civil disobedience.'

Armytage was joined by Justice Party leader Derryn Hinch and journalist Sharri Markson to debate the draconian measures

Pictured: Melburnians in face masks sit in the city on Monday
Markson said the protests were 'irresponsible' during a pandemic and agreed the premier did not provide an adequate roadmap.
Mr Andrews outlined his four-step plan for the state to return to normality on Sunday, with some restrictions to be tweaked from midnight next Sunday.
But Melbourne will remain under a nightly curfew and people will be unable to leave their homes for non-essential reasons until at least October 26.
The lockdown will lift on that date if the average number of new cases falls below five and there are fewer than five unknown source cases.
Up to five visitors from a nominated household and outdoor gatherings of up to 10 people will also be allowed.
Armytage said Victorians would continue to fight the extended measures.

Pictured: Residents wait for a tram on Bourke Street in Melbourne on Sunday
'People are going to start breaking out. People are going to break the rules because they don't agree with what's going on and the rest of the country doesn't agree either,' she said.
The TV personality added she was not blaming Victorians for their frustrations.
'We all feel desperately sorry for you and we're all understanding why people are trying to break out.
'This is your government that has absolutely stuffed this up from the beginning and we feel so desperately frustrated on your behalf that we're trying to fight the fight here.'

Saturday's incident happened while a 'Freedom Day' protest took place in Melbourne

Mr Andrews outlined his four-step plan for the state to return to normality on Sunday, with some restrictions to be tweaked from midnight next Sunday
In the police confrontation video, one of the elderly women pulled her phone out to record the encounter.
A male police officer stood behind her and snatched the device from her hand.
'Excuse me, you have no right to seize my property,' the woman yelled.
Victoria Police were unable to confirm whether the woman was arrested.
A police spokesman said: 'Generally speaking, it is an offence to not provide your name and details to police when they believe you have either committed or are about to commit an offence.
'As part of their powers, police have the ability to remove items from a person's possession where necessary to effect an arrest.'

Pictured: A woman runs past an empty Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne's CBD on Sunday

Officers and Melburnians fall to the ground during dramatic arrests from the anti-lockdown protest on Saturday
Saturday's incident happened while a 'Freedom Day' protest took place in the city.
Police said seven people were charged with breaching COVID-19 directions after some 200 people gathered to protest near the city centre.
Scuffles between demonstrators and police resulted in more than 160 fines for contravening lockdown measures or not wearing a mask.
'Despite all the warnings, it was disappointing to see individuals turn out to protest in the city, putting the lives of Victorians at risk,' a police statement said.
Victoria Police charged a protester with assault after an officer suffered cuts to the head during the anti-lockdown rally.
On Monday, Scott Morrison slammed Victoria's road map out of coronavirus lockdown and said he hopes it is a 'worst case scenario'.
The prime minister said the state's plan to keep lockdown restrictions in place for at least six weeks was 'crushing news'.
'The plan that was outlined yesterday, I hope, is a worst-case scenario. I see it as a starting point in terms of how this issue will be managed in the weeks and months ahead in Victoria,' Mr Morrison said.

Scott Morrison has said he hopes Victoria's road map out of coronavirus lockdown is a worst-case scenario
Mr Andrews' extension of Melbourne's lockdown could lead to another 260,000 job losses in Victoria on top of the 432,000 already out of work, according to new modelling.
Conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs, it is predicted the renewed lockdown will cost Victorians 260,000 jobs.
The data based on figures used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates the number of people state-wide to have lost their job since the pandemic began in Australia in March is about 700,000.
Unemployment levels - even without the further restrictions - could reach 11 per cent, according to the modelling obtained by the Herald Sun.

Professor Peter Collignon (pictured) has slammed Daniel Andrews' roadmap out of lockdown
Criticism of Mr Andrews' road map out of the lockdown has been growing since his Sunday announcement - with disease expert Professor Peter Collignon from the Australian National University saying opening up at five cases a day was 'unrealistic'.
According to Professor Collignon, there are two main reasons why the ambitious plan to get community transmission down to zero before fully reopening is flawed.
'It's much harder than any other state has tried and secondly, a lot hinges on very good contact tracing and so far Victoria has not been able to do it as good as other States,' he told channel 9's Today show.
'They still don't have quick contact tracing and there is a lot of undefined cases where they don't know where they came from.'