Police defend handling of brawl in Collingwood
Police had to break up a brawl involving about 200 people that broke out inside a Melbourne music venue on Sunday night at about 2:45am during the launch of a record label.
The brawl ended up spilling into the streets of the inner Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, into nearby Mater Street as patrons left the venue.
The fight broke out at the Gasometer Hotel in Smith. Seven people were injured.
During the brawl, a car crashed into parked cars, pinning a man to another vehicle on Mater St, not far from the scene of the fight.
Police say the 18 year old man from Fitzroy was so badly injured that his leg was amputated.
One man was arrested. After speaking to police, he has since been released.
While there was a risk of violence, Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt told the ABC that members were told the response to the event would be "business as usual".
"We understand that our local members raised concerns about their safety prior to this event … and they were concerned about the number of resources on hand to deal with this," he told the ABC.
Police Minister Lisa Neville defended the police response.
She dismissed suggestions that police were reluctant to arrest offenders.
"I have not been in a situation where I have confronted 200 young people who are violent. Victoria Police… that's what they do, this is their bread and butter and we have to trust them in their judgements," she told ABC Radio.
"There are a range of ways which tasking happens and tasking happens at a local level and that's something the chief commissioner will need to have a look at.
"But there is nothing that would suggest on that evening that arresting 200 people right then and there was going to necessarily be the safest or the best outcome."
Leon Gettler, 4th September 2018
