Melbourne
outside McDonald's
Swanston Street near Flinders St
approx 10.30PM Friday April 12 2012
Young man accused by security of trying to take gun from security guard at Young & Jackson. Security man told him to sit at base of tree on footpath outside McDonald's.
Several police arrive in ten minutes or so. They check with security man's version of events. Then they briefly question the young man. When the police try to take him away, a scuffle breaks out. There is no paddy wagon at this stage to put him in. The police see the young man's resistance as defying the righteousness of the Law. They push him to the ground (concrete tiles). One thug - dressed as a policeman - holds down his head and punches the new victim three or four times in the back of the head. This encourages a crowd to build - no doubt because violet tactics have appeared on TV screens recently. The police thug is obviously proud of his conttribution to the team but forgets that he is being filmed (by a man who claims to be a lawyer).
A large crowd watches events from close. The police try to clear people away from the immediate area outside McDonald's but, as with their French motto Tenez le Droit (Uphold the Right), the attempt to conceal their over-the-top behaviour is a failure. It is noisy as people see justice carried out before their very eyes. More police appear from nowhere. A young woman inflames the situation by giving the police (9 at this stage) a tongue lashing and urging the police to assault her. Another young woman emerges from McDonalds or the hotel and is quite distraught that her boyfriend has become an object of thorough police attention.
The thug that punched the young man to the rear of the head now chases the girlfriend and grabs at her throat. He thinks his black gloves allow him to strike out at obviously non-resisting females. These were the disgraceful physical police tactics used in crushing the peaceful 'Occupy Melbourne' vigil. The peaceful girlfriend was consoled on the footpath by several ladies including a dark-haired policewoman for about an hour following the incident.
The man was handcuffed and physically carried away - past the horse carriages lining up on the curb - to a paddy wagon. But not before the police formed a protective ring to ward off those on either side of the footpath. The young Indian policeman - shorter than others - was defiantly carrying a gas container - a mini fire extinguisher.
The police go behind the McDonalds McCafe counter and obtain statements from the security guards and a man who seems to be the manager of McDonalds. If a McDonalds manager was involved, it points to the closeness of the relationship between the hamburger empire and Victoria Police.
