Two men charged after 'striking horses' at protest

Two men have been charged with animal cruelty after they allegedly struck police horses at an anti-COVID lockdown rally in Sydney's CBD yesterday.

NSW Police have established a strike force to identify "as many people as possible" who attended the rally in defiance of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders.

Thousands of protesters marched through Sydney's inner-city yesterday afternoon, many of them unmasked and brandishing placards with anti-vaccination messages, in a rally that at times descended into violence.

READ MORE: Chaos as thousands gather for anti-lockdown protests

Images and footage taken at the protest appeared to show police horses being shoved and struck.

Among them was police horse Tobruk, who authorities have since confirmed was uninjured in the affray.

Police arrested and charged 57 people and issued 90 others with infringement notices at the rally itself.

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Since then, police have confirmed that two men were arrested late last night and have been charged with a range of offences including animal cruelty.

Police attended a unit on Marlborough Street in Surry Hills at 11.20pm yesterday, where they arrested the 33-year-old.

He was taken to Kings Cross Police Station and charged with affray, joining an unlawful assembly, committing an act of cruelty upon an animal and not complying with a COVID-19 direction.

READ MORE: NSW Police set up strike force to find anti-lockdown protesters

The second man, a 36-year-old, was arrested at a house on Kalang Road in Edensor Park.

He was taken to Fairfield Police Station and charged with assaulting an officer in their execution of duty, committing an act of cruelty upon an animal and not complying with a COVID-19 direction.

Both men have been refused police bail and are expected to appear today at Parramatta Local Court.

In a statement, NSW Police said that the strike force has been working "throughout the night" to identify those involved in the protest and more arrests are expected.

It came on the same day as New South Wales recorded another steep rise in its COVID-19 outbreak with 163 new cases, at least 45 of whom were infectious in the community.

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