Youth gangs flout coronavirus restrictions, organise violent brawls to fight in multi-level carparks
Violent youth gangs are once again terrorising Melbourne streets and flouting coronavirus restrictions after organising vicious brawls on social media to fight in multi-level carparks and in front of shopping centres.
South East
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Violent youth gangs are flouting the coronavirus lockdown and using social media to organise vicious brawls in abandoned multi-level carparks.
The Leader has been sent disturbing footage and several images of violent gangs fighting in carparks and shopping centres in Melbourne’s southeast and west.
The gangs upload their fight footage onto popular Instagram pages where they are being viewed hundreds of times.
They also repeatedly open and close social media accounts to try to stay a step ahead of the police.
In one shocking video that was livestreamed to thousands of Instagram users, a group of youths are seen attacking a defenceless teenage boy, who appears to be lying unconscious on the ground as a result of the attack.
In another video, a group of youths are captured being aggressive at Parkmore Shopping Centre in Keysborough.
The youths are seen throwing punches and kicks at each other at the centre’s carpark in front of shocked onlookers.
It can also be revealed youth gangs have been flouting lockdown rules and terrorising the streets in Melbourne’s southeast.
In one image posted last week, a teenage boy is pictured mocking police with the photo caption saying: “Detectives working overtime, we make cases pile up”.
In another shocking image, a group of youths are seen sitting on a police car in Melbourne’s CBD, with the photo caption saying: “Became daily offenders, so we could become big spenders”.
Opposition police and community safety spokesman David Southwick said there was simply no excuse for youth gangs to be roaming the streets and looking for trouble during coronavirus restrictions.
“The best remedy is having police boots on the ground to stop crime from happening in the first place,” Mr Southwick said.
“Daniel Andrews was warned weeks ago that Victoria Police numbers were becoming stretched across the state and its simply not good enough that he has ignored calls to bring in the Australian Defence Force sooner,” he said.
A Victoria Police spokesman said police in the southeast had been working hard to turn the tide of youth offending as part of Operation Tidal.
“Operation Tidal works closely with crime teams including the southern metro crime team and those from our Eastern Region and North West Metro Region to share intelligence and monitor persons of interest,” the spokesman said.
“While Operation Tidal is focused on the Greater Dandenong, Cardinia and Casey areas, it also has the flexibility to deploy to other areas as required,” he said.
The spokesman said police actively monitored social media for any intelligence which may help them to prevent and detect crime in the community.
“In recent times police have also conducted OMNI operations in the southeast, targeting weapons offences, which lead to significant arrests.”
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