Two police officers recovering after Melbourne’s protests

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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 it violated that

01:19principle and she expects those who hurled rocks and other projectiles at police to face serious

01:26consequences. Now police have only arrested one person yesterday in relation to the protest a 38 year

01:33old woman from Brunswick West in Melbourne's inner north however they say that they have an abundance of

01:39CCTV footage and also video from the officers body-worn cameras to be able to trawl through

01:46and they say that they will be able to identify those responsible for the violence that left two

01:52police officers in hospital. A female sergeant who suffered a broken hand and also a male senior

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

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

02:11rocks as well as broken bottles and also rotten fruit and they say that some of the protesters hurled

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

02:24the melee. Now they have said that despite concerns from the anti-racism protesters that nearly five of their

02:33own were hospitalized they say that they don't know of any others who had to go to hospital apart from

02:40these two 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

03:14outlawing 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 through

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