Third day of protests at Melbourne weapons expo

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Police are out in force again checking bags and identities of people entering an area around a weapons expo in Melbourne, after two days of protests.

Transcript

00:00Well, you can see that police are still here as part of the massive operation.

00:07There's a huge line of police, backed by crime division officers as well, and detectives

00:13here at this barricade, which is at the northern edge of the Spencer Street Bridge, where they've

00:18expanded this so-called Ring of Steel.

00:21And on the other side is a small group of protesters, probably about 60 or so.

00:27We've been seeing them do some sort of artistic interpretations of protest.

00:34One of them has been holding a baby to signify the lives of children that have been lost

00:40in Gaza.

00:41And we've seen people actually heckling some of the delegates as they arrive to land forces

00:47and also leave land forces as well.

00:51And they've been moving through this large barricade that has been set up here.

00:55But we've seen people being checked, their bags being checked, the demonstrators and

01:01also several arrests when they've failed to comply with police directions.

01:05And earlier on this morning, we saw quite a bizarre protest.

01:10This was when a woman actually managed to chain and then concrete her hand to the back

01:17of a car that was set across really busy Kingsway, which is probably only about 500 metres down

01:22the Yarra River here from where I'm standing now.

01:26And police actually had to get in, put a jack underneath the car and then try and crab walk

01:33her off the side of the road before using a jackhammer to be able to free and eventually

01:39arrest her as well as another woman who was driving the car.

01:42Now, witnesses also say that before that, there was a man who was running through some

01:47of the traffic, smashing windscreens as he went.

01:51And also smashing a truck windscreen that was being driven by AJ Kumar.

01:56He says that it was really quite a shocking scenario that he faced.

02:00This guy was right in the middle of the intersection and he was smashing all the cars and trucks.

02:06And as soon as I reached the intersection, he started approaching to me and then he smashed

02:11the windscreen.

02:15That was AJ Kumar who says that it certainly didn't make him want to sway to the protesters

02:20cause.

02:21He was really upset at the damage and also the fact that obviously so much traffic had

02:26been brought to a standstill.

02:27But the protesters that we spoke to there, they said that the man wasn't involved in

02:33the National Day of Action.

02:34Of course, we have no way of being able to independently verify that.

02:38However, they have said that they're going to continue to come out in force this afternoon

02:43as this Landforce Expo draws to a close.

02:46Of course, the biennial conference involving military and also defence leaders.

02:52And we have also been seeing various other sort of protests like Extinction Rebellion

02:59and people talking about West Papua having a problem with many of these arms manufacturers

03:05oppressing the people there.

03:08But we are hearing that obviously police are going to continue this protest.

03:14And despite calls from the Greens for an inquiry into the police operation after those really

03:22violent clashes between protesters and police on Wednesday, the Premier Jacinta Allen has

03:28remained firm saying that the police actions were completely justified.

03:32Victoria Police had plans for this in place and they responded as they should because

03:37they had a focus on keeping the community safe.

03:41In the context where some people, RAF, turned up on Wednesday carrying rocks, carrying bottles

03:46filled with liquid, as the chief commissioner has identified had some sort of acidic substance

03:51in it.

03:52That's not an intent to protest peacefully.

03:57That's Premier Jacinta Allen of Victoria there.

04:00And we heard from the police that they said that yesterday when they were searching bags

04:06and only arresting about five people, which is quite a lot fewer than the 42 that were

04:11arrested on Wednesday, they actually found red paint, marbles and small rocks that were

04:16designed to deter police horses.

04:19And we also heard that those police horses were checked and they actually had suffered

04:22skin irritations as a result of those clashes on Wednesday when protesters were spraying

04:28liquid directly into the animals' noses.

04:32Police are also going to continue to investigate assaults against various delegates, including

04:37one where a man had urine and faeces tipped on him on Wednesday.

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