One woman, a camper named Bel, said the group would stay until the vaccine mandates stopping thousands from entering most indoor public venues were removed.

“We got here yesterday to camp out to protest the mandates, we wanted to stop the mandate, that’s the point, we’re going to stay here until the mandates are over and we’re all free again,” she told Radio 6PR.

However, Mr McGowan said the state government had requested the people be moved on by City of Perth rangers.

“Police want to make sure people don’t illegally camp, go home and don’t disrupt the lives of people living in the City of Perth,” he said.

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“We have had to do difficult things. Had we not mandated vaccines in an environment with very few outbreaks, we would be languishing at 70 to 80 per cent vaccination rates.

“In my view, saving lives and saving jobs is extremely important. Obviously, some people dislike that but doing the right thing is what matters.”

It comes after epidemiologists questioned the public health benefit to continuing to enforce vaccine mandates in a state with such high rates.