Dozens of Victorians have described feeling “intimidated”, “discriminated against” and “fearful” after being targeted by police enforcing the state’s lockdown laws, according to a new report detailing the use of the emergency powers.

On Monday, Covid Policing, an organisation founded by Amnesty International, the Grata Fund and community legal centres across Australia, released a report detailing examples of what it calls “intimidating” or “aggressive” policing since the introduction of the emergency powers.

Most of the examples detailed in the report took place in Victoria, which has issued more fines than any other state and which, unlike New South Wales, has refused to release details about the location or nature of the majority of fines issued under the laws.

In one case, an international student who described suffering “severe depression and anxiety” said he was among three people fined $1,600 for skateboarding at a park in St Kilda.

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He said that while the park had a sign saying it was closed, a neighbouring basketball court and beach was open and he “thought it would be OK”.

“I don’t understand why there’s hundreds of people in the beach, hundreds of people in the main street and shopping centres, and people playing hockey next to the skatepark, and that’s OK, but if there’s only three people peacefully skating inside of a skatepark, we get a fine?” the student said.

“How can they open some places but close some places? How can we average people understand these confusing laws and how come we get fined for ignorance of confusing laws that was written [a] few weeks ago? The police never explained to us what laws we broke, they just said all parks were closed hence we were getting a fine for using the skatepark. We didn’t cause any troubles.

“As an international student I’m scared of so many things, [that] they will fine me and lock me up, not being able to pay the fine, my visa getting cancelled, and my mental health deteriorating since I am too scared to go out to exercise.”

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Others reported questionable policing practices, including a nurse in Shepparton who claimed she was given a speeding ticket after initially being asked about her reason for travelling, and a woman in Melbourne’s CBD who said police searched her bag without explaining why.

“I don’t mind being asked why we are on the streets but it was not friendly and was more of an interrogation than fact finding,” she said.

“The fact that we were shopping for essentials was enough to know we had left the house for a valid reason. I don’t think asking to see in my bag was warranted either.”

In another case, a couple in Melton West said they were fined after bumping into a neighbour while on a walk and being stopped 50m from their home.

“The police officer was rude [and] I felt we were treated unfairly,” she said.

“They fined us for [a] social distancing breach but I can go to Kmart or Big W and just shopping centres in general and be in close contact with other people. The fine states ‘three exercising nil boot camp’, so if I was in a boot camp it’s fine to be together – it just doesn’t make sense.”

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The anecdotes, laid out in the report released on Monday, provide a glimpse into the way police in Victoria have enforced the state’s strict lockdown laws. Victoria has issued almost 1,700 fines since the Public Health Orders were introduced, far more than other states, including NSW.

Isabelle Reinecke, the executive director of the Grata Fund, said the laws had an “alarming potential” for “vulnerable people in our community to be unfairly targeted”.

“As numerous commentators have pointed out, exercise and getting outside is particularly crucial for health and wellbeing,” she said.

“Interactions with police, especially where people are left feeling intimidated and fearful, only exacerbates the difficulties that people face.”

Reinecke said interactions that did not result in fines could also have negative consequences. Last week the Guardian reported that a woman was left “heartbroken” and feeling like a criminal after police officers carrying weapons interrupted her father’s funeral over the Easter long weekend to enforce social distancing rules.

“Police interactions that do not result in a fine are far more common and can also be harmful and problematic even if the stop does not result in a fine,” she said.