Victoria’s police minister has backed the actions of officers who used pepper spray and rubber bullets against demonstrators in Melbourne’s CBD on Sunday.
Police used force to separate thousands of people involved in an anti-immigration march from a counter-protest group on Sunday.
Two police officers suffered injuries as they tried to keep the groups apart at the northern end of Melbourne’s CBD.
One protester was dragged out of the crowd and attended to after being sprayed by police. (ABC News: Natasha Schapova)
Commander Wayne Cheeseman said officers were pelted with rocks, glass bottles and rotten fruit and responded with pepper spray, rubber bullets and flashbangs to subdue protesters.
He said some members of the counter-protest group came specifically to attack police.
In a statement released on Monday, Victoria Police said both of the injured officers were hit by glass bottles.
A female sergeant in her 40s suffered a serious hand injury and a male senior constable in his 30s received a cut to his leg, the statement said.
Both officers have been released from hospital but Victoria Police said they are set to be off work for the next few weeks.
“Instead of working on the frontline to prevent crime and keep their local community safe, they will be recovering after having glass bottles deliberately thrown at them,” a spokesperson said.Â
Police say the male senior constable received a serious laceration to his leg. (Supplied: Victoria Police)
On Monday, Police Minister Anthony Carbines said officers had had every right to deploy crowd control measures.
“They would not have had to deploy that operational equipment unless they felt it was necessary and we certainly back them in the work that they did to maintain the peace,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“We don’t make any apologies for people using every operational tactic that they can to maintain peace.
“The question is, what would it have been like if police were not present yesterday?
“A lot of it also comes down to a lack of respect from people in the community who think they can behave with impunity.”Loading…
At a press conference following the clashes on Sunday, Commander Cheeseman showed journalists a number of projectiles he said had been thrown at officers.
A 30-year-old woman was arrested and has been charged with resisting police.Â
She was bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court in May.
Loading…Police response questioned
A counter-protester told ABC Radio Melbourne she had not seen anyone throwing objects at police.
She said she was splattered with pepper spray that was directed at a person near her.
“There wasn’t any violence coming from the counter protest and the actual pepper spraying and that sort of stuff came completely out of the blue from the police,” she said.
“I didn’t see anybody throwing anything and I was right up the front.
“Certainly at any protest there are going to be people with stronger feelings and are more angry than others, but I didn’t see anything like that.”
The woman’s account was disputed by the police minister, who said he did not have “much sympathy” for anyone who was pepper-sprayed on Sunday.
“You’re not going to get pepper-sprayed unless you’re right up under the nose of Victoria Police causing violence and disrupting the community,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“People choose to see and don’t see.
“It’s pretty clear to everybody watching on television last night.”
Wayne Gatt from The Police Association Victoria questioned why so-called peaceful protesters would bring items that could be used as potentially dangerous projectiles to the demonstration.
Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said many police felt unsafe at the protest on Sunday. (ABC News)
“Why are you throwing bottles with glass shards in them,” the head of the police union asked.
“Why are you throwing fruit, eggs, projectiles at police?
“I think the majority of Victorians see this for what it is. They’re sick to the back teeth of this sort of behaviour, of this sort of rubbish from these groups.”
He said many of the 590 union members deployed to Sunday’s demonstration did not feel safe.
Mr Gatt said he was revisiting the idea of protective headwear for frontline officers and floated the idea of a protest permit system — something the police commissioner has previously ruled out.
“[It] creates an overlay where police have the right to challenge certain actions that … would cause a breach of the peace or violent confrontation between two parties,” he said.
“It doesn’t remove democratic rights to protest; it enhances them. It allows everybody to have a say.
“If the government doesn’t feel that that’s a process that will change things, then we’re open to ideas … clearly what we’re doing isn’t working. It’s getting worse.”
Premier rejects call for protest permits
The Victorian opposition has called on the government to introduce protest permits to counteract regular demonstrations in the CBD.
In NSW, protest organisers are required to submit notice to police at least seven days in advance of a protest.
“Let’s show that there is some stronger laws, let’s de-mask these gutless cowards that come to our cities and cause the grief that they do and let’s get some permits in place so we can restore law and order,” Shadow Police Minister David Southwick said.
The Victorian opposition has called for the introduction of protest permits. (ABC News: Natasha Schapova)
However, Premier Jacinta Allan rejected that call on Monday morning.
“That is not the advice I am receiving from the chief commissioner of Victoria Police. He’s made his position clear on that,” she said.
“And as we’ve also seen in Sydney, those arrangements have not seen an end or a stopping of people engaging in protest activity.”
In July, the new chief commissioner of Victoria Police said a permit system was “not worth” being introduced.
The government is preparing to introduce new laws into parliament designed to restrict protests in Victoria, almost a year after they were announced.
Under the changes, the government would introduce its own state ban on the display of terror organisation flags at demonstrations, as well as face masks and balaclavas.Â
Glue, ropes and locks would also be banned at protests.