‘Unacceptable’: Victorian Police chief Shane Patton slams senator Lidia Thorpe’s rant

Victoria’s chief of police has condemned a senator’s verbal attack on officers outside an immigration detention centre.

Victorian Police chief Shane Patton has slammed an angry spray directed at officers by senator Lidia Thorpe last week.

Senator Thorpe confronted police during a protest outside Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) in Broadmeadows.

A group of around 30 protesters had previously attempted to block a busload of handcuffed detainees from being transferred to Christmas Island.

“You are the criminals, you are the only criminals on this land,” Senator Thorpe shouted at police.

“How dare you people do that to innocent people.”

Mr Patton said the senator‘s aggressiveness towards police was not fitting behaviour for a senior politician.

“The conduct of Senator Thorpe was unacceptable, it was inappropriate and very disappointing for somebody in her position,” Mr Patton told 3AW.

Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said Senator Thorpe’s behaviour was not fitting of someone in her position. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Wayne Taylor

“I just hope she’s had a good think about it and had time to reflect upon it.”

During the interaction Senator Thorpe called police “criminals” and accused them of locking up innocent people.

“Working at a protest is hard enough as it is, but someone is pointing their finger at you, they are yelling, they are part of a large group, calling us criminals, saying how dare we do things,” Mr Patton said.

“We have nothing to do with those people detained in detention there.”

Mr Patton commended the officers for showing restraint in the face of Senator Thorpe’s abuse.

Greens senator Lidia Thorpe was out of line, Victoria’s top cop says. Picture: Twitter/@SenatorThorpe

“It’s hard enough being a police officer day in, day out and they did a fantastic job there on that day to show the restraint when confronted by Miss Thorpe and others there as well,” he said.

Mr Patton stressed that he fully backed his officers as long as they acted appropriately and said they had certainly done so on this occasion.

Senator Thorpe defended her actions shortly after the incident, saying on Twitter that Australia's immigration system was “designed to be dehumanising”.

Greens Leader Adam Bandt said his party supported protests defending rights of migrants and refugees but did not comment directly about Senator Thorpe’s approach.

“Unlike Liberal and Labor, the Greens will always support protests defending refugees and migrant rights,” Mr Bandt said.