Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner Elaine Pearson has described the decision by Victorian authorities to shut down and divert the capital city’s public transport system to prevent a potential anti-lockdown protest as “neither necessary nor proportionate.” Writing on Twitter on Sept. 16, she added, “And it sends a terrible message to more authoritarian regimes who don’t need encouragement in cracking down on protests they don’t like.” Pearson’s comments come as authorities in Victoria plan to ban buses, trams, and trains from entering the CBD between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. in a bid to stop a planned anti-lockdown protest on the weekend, which Victorian Chief Police Commissioner Shane Patton described as a “super spreading” event. Victoria’s capital is still locked down amid a prolonged outbreak of the more transmissible Delta variant of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. Residents of the state have so far …