On Spencer Street Bridge, dozens of Australian Federal Police, Public Order Response, mounted and on-foot police officers created a major barricade to protesters getting anywhere near the Exhibition Centre.
NSW police officers were also stationed along the bridge.
Police return to guard the Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition on Thursday.Credit: Eddie Jim
Delegates attending the weapons exhibition were escorted into the centre peacefully.
Under Victoria’s Control of Weapons Act, the chief commissioner can designate a zone in which police can search people without a warrant for a limited period of time.
Police searched bags and used a metal-detecting wand to scan passers-by for weapons on Thursday morning.
At 9.15am, the protesters confronted a wall of dozens of police officers and horses on the Southbank walk outside Crown Casino, just across the road from the weapons expo.
A man with a megaphone spoke as a demonstrator beside him waved a Palestinian flag.
“We are not cowards like you, like Albanese, like the media,” the man said.
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One protester was involved in a physical confrontation with members of the media. The demonstrator accusing the television network’s security guard of assaulting him.
“Don’t f—ing come in here and agitate people,” one man yelled at a reporter.
The relatively peaceful scenes were a marked departure from the violence that flared on day one of the expo.
In ugly scenes on Wednesday, anti-war protesters targeting the three-day conference pelted police with horse faeces, rocks, eggs, beer bottles, tomatoes, canned food and a mild acid.
Victoria Police defended their use of force, responding with foam bullets, stun grenades, tear gas and pepper spray to quell the at-times chaotic crowd.
Police Minister Anthony Carbines said officers had used extreme restraint.
Police use pepper spray on protesters.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“I think it would be naive to think that if you’ve got yourself caught up in troubles down there, then you’ve probably put yourself in the wrong place. Take responsibility for those actions. Peaceful protest is always welcome and supported in our state.
“But if you found yourself caught up in what we saw yesterday, I think you’ve only got yourself to blame.”
He said the government was looking at expanding the use of designated areas in which police have greater powers to search and remove people.
Carbines said further arrests could be made once footage of the protests had been reviewed.
On Wednesday, mounted police forced protesters back to Spencer Street, where they set bins and rubbish on fire.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Fire Rescue Victoria is investigating reports of acid thrown at officers.
Carbines called on members of the public to thank officers for their work after “a tough day on the beat”.
“I’d urge all Victorians, when they see a member of Victoria Police, to thank them, to give them a thumbs up and tell them that they have Victoria’s support for their restraint.”
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The Police Association of Victoria blasted Wednesday’s scenes as “some of the most violent” protests officers have seen in decades.
“And since the World Economic Forum, we haven’t seen people bring this, for no apparent reason, to the police,” union boss Wayne Gatt told 3AW breakfast radio on Thursday morning.
“That’s confronting when you hear that from such experienced police officers who do demonstrations and deal with peaceful protests pretty much as their day job.”
Gatt said Wednesday’s turnout was “overwhelmingly” people looking for a fight rather than standing for a cause, and any cause was lost in their actions.
“They wouldn’t be coming with their faces covered. They wouldn’t be coming with goggles on. They wouldn’t be coming armed with weapons, rocks, bottles and the like, [or] liquid to throw at the police,” Gatt said.
An anti-war protester is shot by a rubber bullet on Wednesday.Credit: Christopher Hopkins
“You don’t do that because you’re genuinely interested in anti-war or peace. You do that because you want to promote and proliferate violence.”
Disrupt Land Forces – a conglomerate protest group leading the action – is calling for an end to weapons sales to Israel and an arms embargo.
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In a statement published on social media, the group said: “Butyric acid, a food additive made from dairy products, was also deployed.
“[Police] have attacked us with blows, kicks, and boots on our throats, tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets.”
Police estimated 1500 protesters were outside the expo on Wednesday, well short of the 20,000 expected. Forty-two protesters were arrested, while 27 police officers required medical attention.
Protesters lit fires in bins and set up barricades, mainly around the Spencer Street Bridge on the CBD’s edge, as mounted police and armed officers dressed in riot gear stood opposite to prevent access to the convention centre.
On Wednesday afternoon, Chief Commissioner Shane Patton lashed the behaviour of some of the protesters, calling them hypocrites for attending the rally with an intention, he alleged, to cause violence.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Premier Jacinta Allan both condemned the actions of violent protesters.
Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell called for an independent inquiry into police behaviour at the rally, particularly over the use of pepper spray. The chief commissioner rejected the idea, calling it rubbish.
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Source Agencies
