Two police officers recovering after Melbourne’s protests

ABC NEWS (Australia)

More arrests are expected after violent clashes between police and protesters in Melbourne’s CBD at the weekend. Two police officers are recovering from injuries after they tried to separate two counter rallies.

Transcript

00:00The Premier Jacinta Allen was very blunt in her assessment of some of the protesters actions

00:07yesterday, saying that it was appalling and disgraceful that they had resorted to violence

00:14and hurt police officers who were just trying to do their job. That's of course when police

00:19were forced, they say, to deploy flashbangs and also capsicum spray to subdue some of these

00:26protesters as they attempted to separate an anti-immigration rally from an anti-racism

00:32counter-protest in the heart of the CBD. And the Premier Jacinta Allen says it's clear that some

00:39people were there simply to protest for the sake of protesting. For some, a small number, they chose

00:46to come and bring violence to the streets. And I want to thank Victoria Police for the way they

00:52kept the community safe and dealt swiftly with this group of protesters who were choosing to use

01:00violence. And it was unacceptable. I'm absolutely clear that what happened in Melbourne yesterday

01:06was a violation of that obligation that everyone has in a democratic society that should you choose

01:12to protest, you must do so peacefully. What happened yesterday wasn't just unacceptable,

01:18it violated that principle. And she expects those who hurled rocks and other projectiles at police

01:24to face serious consequences. Now police have only arrested one person yesterday in relation to the

01:31protest, a 38-year-old woman from Brunswick West in Melbourne's inner north. However, they say that

01:38they have an abundance of CCTV footage and also video from the officers' body-worn cameras to be able to

01:45trawl through. And they say that they will be able to identify those responsible for the violence

01:51that left two police officers in hospital, a female sergeant who suffered a broken hand and also a male

01:59senior constable who had a leg laceration. And police say that they've had a gutful at these sorts of

02:05violent protesters, showing members of the media some of the projectiles that were hurled at officers,

02:10including rocks, as well as broken bottles, and also rotten fruit. And they say that some of the protesters

02:18hurled those projectiles with such force that some of their protective shields were also cracked during the

02:25melee. Now, they have said that despite concerns from the anti-racism protesters that nearly five of their own

02:34were hospitalized, they say that they don't know of any others who had to go to hospital apart from these

02:40two officers. And they've also defended their actions, saying that they are entitled to use force

02:47to be able to protect public safety. And they have been well and truly backed up by the Premier Jacinta

02:53Allen, who says that she will be introducing new laws into state parliament next month, which will further

03:00give police more powers in these sorts of events to clamp down on extremist and violent behaviour.

03:09She says that this has taken some time since they first announced those powers, for example,

03:15outlawing the use of masks at protests, because they wanted to consult widely. But she says police do have

03:21additional powers to be able to designate areas so they can deal with offenders on the spot,

03:27as well as some of those move on powers. And she fully expects that this will be supported

03:33through parliament to allow police to do their job.

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