COVID Gestapo Arrest People In Sydney For Attending Funeral

Community members are calling for a more compassionate approach to funerals, especially in hard-hit Western Sydney, following a large police presence and the arrest of four men at Rookwood Cemetery.

NSW Police were called to the 314-hectare cemetery on Wednesday to a funeral that had more than 10 mourners in attendance.

There were two other burials happening in the same section of the cemetery at about the same time.

Under the public health orders, up to 10 people can attend indoor or outdoor funerals, but only if you are a spouse, partner, parent, child or sibling of the deceased person.

Anwar Elahmad from southwest Sydney was there visiting his father's grave but told the ABC one of the people being buried was his wife's uncle, who had contracted COVID-19 around six weeks ago.

NSW Police said officers from Auburn, Burwood, Bankstown and Campsie stations, as well as the riot squad, were sent to the cemetery following reports there were 80 to 100 people there.

Three of them were fined, while the fourth was charged with three counts of intimidating police and other offenses, after allegedly abusing and threatening officers.