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Victoria Police have so far arrested 235 people during the Melbourne anti-lockdown protest on Saturday.
Northwestern Metropolitan Area Commander Mark Galliott said 193 of those people were arrested for violating the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s instructions, and the rest were arrested for a range of offenses, including assault on the police, weapons and drug offenses.
More than 2,000 police were deployed to try to thwart Melbourne’s anti-lockdown protests on Saturday.Credit:Chris Hopkins
Commander Galliott said 10 police officers were injured during the protests and six were hospitalized.
Three policemen were still in the hospital with various injuries, including muscle tears, a broken elbow, a broken nose, a broken finger and bruises.
He said the protesters threw bottles, stones and a “range of other objects” at the police.
“What we saw today is a group of demonstrators who came together, not to protest against freedoms, but simply to confront and fight with the police,†Commander Galliott said.
“This is what we saw – [they] were aggressive and angry young men out there to fight the police, not to protest freedom.
“What we’ve seen, especially in some cases, is, you know, police officers being trampled forcing the lines, police officers being trampled, they don’t come to work for – they’re there to help ensure. community safety.
“What we don’t come to work for is being trampled, assaulted and coming home with broken bones.”
Commander Galliott said Victoria Police estimated between 500 and 700 protesters turned out for the anti-lockdown rally in Melbourne on Saturday. He said police expected between 6,000 and 7,000 people to show up.
The 193 people arrested for violating the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s instructions would be fined, Commander Galliott said. He said if the police hadn’t shut down the public transport system and imposed vehicle checkpoints on Saturday, “we could have had thousands in the city.”
“We appreciate that there has been a great disruption for commuters, for other people at these checkpoints trying to get to work,” said Commander Galliott.
“But like I said, all we do is just react to the behavior of the protesters.”
Commander Galliott said police had yet to assess the cost of the operation, but it would have been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.