Police say the arrest of a pregnant Victorian woman for incitement was done "entirely reasonably", even though the incident looked "terrible".
Ballarat mother Zoe-Lee Buhler sparked a social media storm when she posted video footage of her arrest.
She was handcuffed in her home yesterday after allegedly organising an anti-lockdown protest on Saturday in Ballarat.
Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius has defended the officers who made the arrest, while acknowledging the video looked bad.
"I would be the first to acknowledge the optics, for want of a better description, arresting a pregnant female, it's never going to look good," Mr Cornelius said on Thursday.
"The optics of arresting someone who is pregnant is terrible.
"I've seen the footage, and you know, in my assessment, the members have conducted themselves entirely reasonably.
"They have been polite. They have been professional. When the individual indicated she may be late for an appointment at the hospital, our members actually contacted the hospital and made arrangements for an alternative appointment."
Mr Cornelius is adamant the arrest was justified.
"While this deadly virus doesn't discriminate, we won't discriminate. And we can't discriminate in holding people to account," he said..
"We said we would be coming out and we would be holding people to account and that's exactly what we've done.
"You have to have been on Mars not to know that. I have to say if someone looked me in the eye and I was out dealing with an individual and they said, "'I didn't know I couldn't protest' I have to say, 'come on, don't take me for a fool'."
Ms Buhler insists she did not realise the protest was illegal, given Ballarat's stage-three restrictions, but is also unrepentant.
"I had a bit of a bimbo moment and I actually didn't realise that it wasn't okay," she told 3AW on Thursday.
"I probably wouldn't change anything to be honest.
"If the police had just called me and told me to remove the post I would've done so."
Three men also have been arrested for incitement over a planned Saturday protest at inner-Melbourne locations, including the Shrine Of Remembrance.
Mr Cornelius says police are determined the protest does not go ahead.
"By all means, protest online. Be the keyboard warrior. Say all sorts of unpleasant and uncharitable things about people urging you to behave sensibly, but do it online," he said.
"Don't leave home to do it."
Mr Cornelius joined Shrine officials and the RSL in saying that the site is sacred ground and should never be used as a protest venue.
He added that apart from the three arrests, police had spoken to about 80 people and warned them not to attend the protest.
