Melbourne anti-vaccine protesters turn on organiser Harrison Mclean after he ...

The chief architect of Melbourne's week of violent anti-vaccine demonstrations is under siege from his followers calling him a sellout for agreeing to curtail his protest activity.

Harrison Mclean, 25, was arrested at his home on Saturday morning and charged with incitement while his followers clashed with police on a seventh day of violence.

The Monash University IT graduate runs the 'Melbourne Freedom Rally' group on encrypted messaging app Telegram used to mobilise anti-vax protesters.

Mclean, who also posts as 'Dominic D', used the channel, boasting more than 13,000 members, to promote and organise rallies against lockdowns and Covid vaccine mandates.

Hailed as a hero by conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers, and lockdown opponents for months, many abruptly turned on him on Sunday after he announced his arrest. 

'I have accepted bail conditions for release, which include following chief health officer directions, and refraining from promoting freedom events that contravene CHO directions,' he wrote. 

Diehard members believed Mclean should have chosen jail over agreeing to bail conditions that prevented him from organising or promoting protests. 

'The bail conditions were reasonable for the circumstances, and there is nothing to be gained from sending time in jail,' he told one.

'There is a lot that can be done while outside that is not directly rally related.'

The bail conditions will hamstring his protest activity until he faces Melbourne Magistrates' Court on April 11 next year.

Mclean also insisted 'there was no encouragement to riot, only peacefully protest' despite all the protests quickly spiralling out of control.

There is no record of Mclean encouraging violence of any kind in his promotion of the protests.

However, Mclean was blasted for the after-effects of the protests, including by a construction worker who was stood down after Monday's rally.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews shut down the entire construction industry for two weeks last Monday night after ugly scenes at the CFMEU's Melbourne office where a crowd clashed with union officials over vaccine mandates for workers.

Several tradies told the Guardian that a handful of workers went there to speak with officials about the vaccine mandate and unrelated changes to working conditions because they couldn't get through on the phone.

However, the small group was soon joined by hundreds of others intent on causing a scene, many of whom were not union members. 

'You went there looking for a reaction off the police, which you got but never went in you favour,' the construction worker wrote.

'I'm aggressive because I'm off work for two weeks down to your movement hijacking Monday. We went down there for answers and your people capitalised on an industry's anger.'

Mclean insisted his movement only played a supporting role in Monday's rally that had to be broken up with riot police after the mob trashed the union office.

'We supported Monday, we united together on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the people gradually got tired out and unable to deal with police suppression on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,' he said.

Another follower asked Mclean if he was worried about the CFMEU coming after him for hijacking the vaccine mandate issue to organise protests.

'Well I guess that's what occurs when I do what [Victorian CFMEU boss] John Setka refused to do and actually march the membership on parliament,' he replied. 

The protests lost significant credibility when rioters marched on the Shrine of Remembrance on Wednesday and had more ugly clashes with police.

Custodians of the shrine blasted them for using the war memorial as a prop and for leaving rubbish and urine across the park.

'No one came up with the Shrine in advance, people just went there because they were pushed there by police positioning and attacks,' Mclean claimed. 

Mclean also tried to clarify his personal stance on coronavirus, having previously claimed in speeches at rallies this year that the pandemic didn't exist.

'I have never said that coronavirus isn't real. I personally think that coronavirus is real, however, some people have some disagreements,' he said.

'I think it is real but the lethality and transmission rates are highly exaggerated.'

Mclean said claimed his issue was with mandatory vaccination and lockdowns, which he said were incompatible with freedom.

'The goalposts will keep moving to three, four, five vaccines [being needed to enjoy freedoms taken away by government restrictions],' he claimed.

'Israel is moving to requiring more vaccine already.'

Mclean was replying under his real-name Telegram handle as opposed to his Dominic D alias, which he admitted was now blown.

'Now that the genie is out of the bottle, my personal name can be more present,' he said. 

Mclean has in the past used the Dominic D alias to make statements on Telegram that led to accusations he holds white supremacist beliefs - which he denies.  

His posts, penned under the pseudonym, have included remarks such as 'Hitler had some good points', and plans to radicalise his 'freedom groups' into more extreme political views, the Guardian reported.

Mclean on Sunday was challenged about reports of the posts he made, and insisted he was not a neo-Nazi and just wanted to encourage debate.

'I am a libertarian populist, not a national socialist. I oppose their arguments and refute them at every available opportunity,' he said.