‘Pretty bizarre’ tactics at anti-war protest

An anti-weapons protester is having her concrete-encased hand detached from a car by police and an angle grinder as another person at the protest reportedly smashed several vehicles in the central business district.

After 42 protesters were arrested on Wednesday and police were hit with balloons and bottles filled with acid and vomit thrown from the crowd of more than 2000 demonstrators, police cracked down with the use of special search powers on Thursday.

A much smaller and peaceful crowd showed up on Thursday, and small numbers of protesters have shown up again outside the Land Forces Defence Expo at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday, the final day of the major weapons exhibition.

On Friday morning, a woman managed to concrete her hand to a car and block a CBD street.

Doing a live cross 24 hours after being harassed by protesters, ABC reporter Stephanie Ferrier and her camera operator described the situation.

“This is the sight of a pretty bizarre protest at the moment,” Ferrier said.

“This lady here has actually managed to affix herself to the back of a hatchback.”

The reporter described seeing the protester put her own hand into a bag of concrete.

“She’s actually been stuck in there,” Ferrier said.

Police moved the car off King St.

“They’ve had to virtually crab-walk her with the car on a jack … they’re trying to angle-grind her hand out of this concrete,” Ferrier said.

The woman had been proclaiming she was against the nearby weapons expo.

Elsewhere, a man at the protest was arrested after allegedly smashing vehicles as they were travelling along a street near the expo.

“That guy wasn’t a part of this,” protesters said during the ABC live cross.

“He was right in the middle of the intersection, and he was smashing all the cars and trucks and as soon as I reached the intersection he starts approaching me and then he smashed the windscreen,” a truck driver told the ABC.

Police have been granted special powers in response to the large-scale pre-planned protests.

Without a warrant and for a limited time, police can check identification cards at will, tell people to remove face masks, look into bags and conduct random weapons searches, under Victoria’s Control of Weapons Act.

On Wednesday, about 2000 protesters gathered near the huge weapons expo, and scenes turned ugly.

Police were hit with horse manure and acid, and 27 officers were injured. Protesters were hit with pepper spray and rubber bullets, and 42 demonstrators were arrested.

On Thursday, barely 200 protesters showed up outside the police barricades surrounding the weapons expo, but police thoroughly searched scores of people.

The searches are continuing on Friday as another small crowd yells “shame” and “murderer” at expo delegates as the weapons industry representatives pass through the police checkpoints.

More to come