SYDNEY (Reuters) – Anti-war groups protested for a second straight day at a defence exhibition in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city, on Thursday after several officers were injured in violent clashes between police and demonstrators on Wednesday.
Protesters marched through the city streets as police set up new barricades to block the crowd from entering the road near the site of the biennial Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition.
Riot police and specialist personnel have been deployed in what police say is the largest security operation in Melbourne since the World Economic Forum in 2000. Hundreds of police from other parts of the state of Victoria have been deployed to Melbourne.
Dozens of people were arrested Wednesday as police used sponge grenades, flashbangs and irritant sprays to control sections of the hostile crowd. Some in the crowd threw rocks, horse manure and bottles at police officers and horses.
About 1,500 people protested outside the venue on Wednesday. Many chanted pro-Palestinian slogans over loudspeakers and waved Palestinian flags. Others carried signs and flags representing other conflicts and issues.
A total of 22 people were charged and 10 fined, Victoria State Police said. Twenty-seven officers required medical treatment.
The protesters alleged that police used rubber bullets and other weapons that they say should be banned for use against protesters, including pepper spray.
The violence during the protests, led by a group calling itself ‘Disrupt Land Forces’, was strongly criticised by the major political parties. However, the small left-wing party GroenLinks has called for an independent investigation into the police actions.
About 1,000 exhibiting organisations from 31 countries are expected at the event, which organisers say is Australia’s largest defence exhibition. The three-day event ends on Friday.
(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
