Man charged over fake video of AFP chief Kershaw ‘plotting coup’ An internal server error has occurred. Please refresh the page or try logging in again. An error has occurred. Please try again later. Home/ nation AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage https://archive.ph/NmsO3 By Stephen Rice 2:27PM August 2, 2021 Share this article Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email A faked video purporting to be a leaked briefing by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw planning to arrest government leaders for treason is circulating in online conspiracy circles and has been watched more than 100,000 times, with police sources expressing fear that unbalanced individuals may act on it. Police sources say a man has been charged over the circulation of the videos. The video claims to reveal Commissioner Kershaw “spelling out the crimes of how our ‘leaders’ have hijacked our Government and how they will be taken down under common law and the constitution.” Police authorities who track online conspiracy activists have become increasingly alarmed at the proliferation of anti-vax and anti-lockdown messaging inciting violence and armed resistance to lockdown and other restrictions. “This has already started,” the man purported to be Commissioner Kershaw says in the video. “When are we going to overthrow the Government? ASAP! This is lawful arrest warrants on people who have done wrong by the criminal justice system and we have to arrest them for that.” The “commissioner” tells potential recruits some of them will be armed but “the last resort is to pull a handgun on someone – we don’t want to do it; we want to do it lawfully and under the 1979 Police Act.” They will be getting an AFP badge, he says, but “only to be used on the day of the arrests.” The fake video clip has been posted on dozens of social media sites including pages belonging to celebrity chef Pete Evans, rebel MP Craig Kelly and activists linked to the recent “Freedom Day” protest marches. The man who calls himself “the commissioner” claims to have a handgun that he brings to meetings to “show people this is not a bloody game. There could be times where your life could be threatened.” “This is not a coup, this is not a terrorist act,” he says. “If you think you’re going in guns blazing and it’s going to be all fun and games, it’s not. This is not a game. You’re signing on for something that could be dangerous.” “The people at the top will be removed from their positions,” the man says. The Governor-General Sir David Hurley will be “taken from power completely” and “the true Governor General”– far right activist Teresa van Lieshout – will be installed in his place. Former One Nation and Palmer United Party candidate Teresa van Lieshout posts videos issuing “arrest warrants” for various politicians, state premiers and chief medical officers for offences including murder and treason. The Australian understands the audio is of a real Zoom meeting conducted on the Gold Coast by a splinter group connected to the far-right Citizens Initiated Referendum, for the purpose of recruiting gullible volunteers. The audio of the meeting has then been re-badged with a picture of Commissioner Kershaw and added text to make it appear he is the speaker. The session purports to be an opportunity for volunteers to sign up for a secret section of the AFP where they will be given firearms and self-defence training. The Citizens Initiated Referendum claims Australia’s leaders are traitors and the death penalty should be re-introduced for treason. The group’s website states that “Australia is heading towards a similar fate to German before Hitler came along”, and that “Hitler has plenty to teach us.” The site links to videos claiming that “Jews are a people of robbers” who have “destroyed civilisations by the hundreds.” The man claiming to Commissioner Kershaw says in the video: “All you have to do is sign on, learn the basic self defence, be ready for when we give you that direction to be called up, to effect the arrest warrants. “So long as you’re ready to stand up and effect the arrest warrants and dissolve the political parties that have done wrong, we don’t have a problem with that “They wont be able to come in and vax you because we will stop that. That’s why I’m calling upon Australians, men and women, we need you to sign on, to stand up, put on the boxing gloves and get ready to go. Be ready to do your duty, not only as a Federal Police Officer but as a citizen.” “Eventually they’ll pull a full lockdown on us and that’s something we can’t have.”