More than 200 arrests made on third day of Melbourne protests
Protesters have swamped Melbourne’s CBD for the third day, with hundreds converging on the city’s famous war memorial and police arresting more than 200 people.
The crowd of up 1000 protesters finally dispersed just before 5pm, after causing chaotic scenes around the Shrine of Remembrance following a tense stand-off with police which spanned hours.
Two police officers received head injuries from having bottles thrown at them, while a third officer was hospitalised with chest pain.
A flare was set off and explosion-like sounds were heard as protesters ran from the shrine after police deployed tear gas this afternoon.
Many ran through traffic on a nearby road, where a car crashed into a tram in the chaos.
Golf balls, tap handles and batteries were thrown at police amid the chaos, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner, Public Safety & Security Command, Ross Guenther, said.
He said police had used OC spray, capsules and foam batons to control the crowd.
Mr Guenther said he thought police’s approach today had been very good, noting officers had initially given protesters the chance to go home, then had issued penalty notices if the they did not leave.
He said he estimated about 300 fines had been handed out for breaching the CHO’s stay-at-home directions.
Police have been patrolling the surrounding streets on a Bearcat since the crowd dispersed at the shrine.
Mr Guenther said the group of protesters appeared to be much more mixed than from the last two days, where mainly tradies were protesting,
“To be clear, there weren’t as many tradies from what we could see,” he said.
He has advised all Melburnians to avoid coming into the CBD tomorrow, saying the same police efforts will be seen.
Protesters have threatened to come back over the next few days.
“My message is: don’t come into the city.”
Prior to the protesters gathering at the shrine, police used rubber bullets against protesters as they chased protesters through Carlton Gardens.
The protestors spent hours this morning marching the streets of the CBD, making it difficult for police to apprehend them by repeatedly splintering and regathering.
Deputy Premier James Merlino described the protests as “incredibly scary” and “thuggery from hundreds of people”.
“A terrifying experience for innocent people who are on the West Gate Bridge last night. People you know who were innocently out and about and witnessing this thuggery. Journalists being assaulted. This is not who we are,” Mr Merlino said.
“I’m not going to call it protests because it is not a protest. This is a mob acting criminally.”
‘Dynamic situation’
9News reporter Lana Murphy described the scene today, saying the group had separated down laneways and streets before police could surround them.
The protesters are reportedly using an encrypted messaging application to communicate.
Hundreds of men marched at the top of the CBD, chanting “f— Dan Andrews”.
Some were wearing high-vis but most were dressed in dark plain clothes.
The group circled north of the CFMEU headquarters, where hundreds of police, including riot police, stood guard.
Protesters refused to speak to media on the ground, chanting “fake news” when approached by reporters.
They have instead continued to live stream the action on social media themselves.
“It seems this is quite a dynamic situation,” Today reporter Christine Ahern said this morning.
“What police have been doing is pouncing on them one by one, arresting them quite aggressively actually. I did see one police car pull up and tackle a fellow to the ground with a gun drawn, at the same time a woman went past with a baby in a pram, crying.
“This is a much smaller group than yesterday. You can see it is a dynamic situation. We’re just walking with them now but police are following their every move.
“But the riot police and mounted police, they’re still back at CFMEU headquarters so whether they follow this group or not I don’t know but I can tell you that police have been almost picking them off one by one and arresting them.”
‘Appalling’ and ‘unlawful’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, speaking in Washington DC, addressed the protests this morning.
“I can understand that people would be concerned about the shutdown of the construction industry – these are important jobs and they will return, we will get through this – but protest activity, and what we’ve seen there, I think, is highly distressing and that is not an appropriate response,” Mr Morrison said.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews decried the violent protest action as “appalling” and “unlawful”.
Mr Andrews said police will not hesitate to take action against those who acted violently and unlawfully.
“They’re not there to protest, they’re there for a fight, they are there to pretend to be protesting,” he said.
“What we saw yesterday is an insult, an insult, to the vast, vast majority of tradies or people in the building industry who are not about wrecking, they’re about building.
“Yesterday we saw 1000, 2000 people, many of whom behaved appallingly.”
The premier said there were few words that could adequately describe the ugly protest scenes of yesterday.
“Whether you want to call it a riot, a fray, ugly scenes, you can scarcely find a word to adequately describe what we saw yesterday,” Mr Andrews said.
“That’s why Victoria Police are not tolerating this.”
Mr Andrews said the construction industry needed a “reset” due to high COVID-19 transmission and its lack of compliance with the rules.
The premier received advice that shutting down parts of the industry would have been “unsafe” and sparked an uproar at a localised level.
“There’s no campaign that’s going to get a run here to change these rules.”
Victoria Police arrested 62 people in the protests yesterday.
