25,000 protesters throw city into chaos

Protesters have clashed with police, throwing poo and rocks while officers use pepper spray as thousands of people swarm the Melbourne CBD to protest a military expo.

More than 25,000 people are expected to surround the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday, rallying against the Land Forces Defence Expo being held inside.

On Wednesday morning there are several thousand protestors at various points surrounding the convention centre.

Protesters are chanting “Free Palestine” and “money for houses and education, not for weapons corporations”.

Police had turned out in force to manage the protesters with a “ring of steel” around the exhibition centre, but when the group began to move from their place outside the building and toward a major intersection, a heated clash broke out between the two.

Shocking footage showed horse manure being picked up by protesters and flung towards mounted police, with other reports suggesting rocks had also been thrown at officers.

Earlier vision showed protesters surrounding a police horse, with one person seen grabbing on its bridle as an officer sat on top of the animal.

Today reporter Christine Ahearn, reporting from the scene, was caught up in the chaos, with protesters surrounding her and trying to grab her microphone as she crossed live to the Nine studio.

She told host Karl Stefanovic there had been a “heated clash” between the group, made up of pro-Palestine and Extinction Rebellion activist groups, and police.

“We’ve seen police are actually being pelted with projectiles,” she said.
“Some have actually grabbed the reins of the horses, trying to stop them and pull them back. “And obviously police got out their batons and were actually clashing with protesters trying to stop that.”

The reporters and cameras of other media outlets have been pushed, blocked and screamed at during live crosses. The Herald Sun reports seeing a police officer with blood streaming down his face.

Police fired pepper spray towards the huge group in a bid to regain control of the situation, with live footage from the scene showing the crowd back under control about 8.30am.

Traffic on roads surrounding the expo is backed up, with vehicles stuck at a standstill for 45 minutes in some spots. Police are walking in large groups on highways letting cars drip through the jam.

According to activist group Wage Peace – Disrupt War, the protest group were marching to the back entrance “to disrupt Land Forces while attendees are going through security checks”.

Victoria Police has been given “special powers” under the Terrorism (Community Protection) Act in the area surrounding the exhibition centre until 11.59pm on September 15.

Under the powers it’s an offence to hinder a search or fail to comply with a direction to remove a face covering.

“This is expected to be our largest operation since the World Economic Forum in 2000,” a Victoria Police spokesman said.

Hundreds of regional police have been deployed to Melbourne for the event, alongside metro general duties police and specialist officers.

Scheduled to run from September 11 to 13, the Land Forces expo will bring together almost 1000 exhibitions from 31 countries.

However the Disrupt Land Forces activist group have claimed the event “facilitate(s) murder”.

“We unequivocally oppose the glorification of death, destruction, and genocide being carried out with weapons developed on this continent and showcased at Land Forces,” Disrupt Land Forces said in an open letter.

“From Palestine to West Papua, these companies facilitate murder, displacement, land desecration and colonisation in the name of western imperialist interests.”

The group has called for an “end to all weapons exports to states engaged in genocide and militarised repression”.

When asked for her thoughts on Sky News on Wednesday morning, deputy Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley said the group should “get a job”.

“These people need to get a job,” she said.

“They need to actually, it’s like rent a crowd every single time we have one of these protests. “Pete, I back our defence industries every single day of the week, and I know that Australians massively, absolutely do so as well.”