CNN :
Dozens of people have been arrested after clashes between police and protesters outside a major defense expo in Australia on Wednesday, during which police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators and both sides accused the other of violence.
Video from the scene showed protesters setting fire to trash cans and throwing projectiles at officers as they struggled to restore order at the Land Forces international exposition in downtown Melbourne.
The three-day event brings defense experts from around the world and showcases military equipment, heavy-duty trucks, semi-automatic guns and other weapons.
The protests come at a time when heightened tensions sparked by global conflicts have deepened public anger in many countries towards the arms industry and its profits.
Victoria Police had expected protests and deployed more than 1,000 officers to the event in their biggest planned operation in 24 years.
When protesters arrived Wednesday, rows of officers were already guarding the exhibition center ready to repel any attempt to interfere with the event.
By mid-morning, around 500 protesters were outside the venue, according to Gabrielle de Vietri, a member of the Victorian Greens who sits in the state parliament. She said she arrived around 10 a.m. and witnessed police using “excessive force.”
“I saw people with blood running down their faces having been shot in the face by rubber bullets, people with welts on their arms from being shot, people who had torn their clothes off from being sprayed with pepper spray. It was a horrific scene of police brutality,” de Vietri told CNN.
However, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said complaints police used excessive force were “rubbish,” calling the protesters “hypocrites” for their behavior which he said was “absolutely appalling.”
“I’ve used the term hypocrites because we support peaceful protest, and we facilitate that all the time. What we saw today was not peaceful protest,” Patton told a news conference later Wednesday.
He said police had been abused, pushed, shoved, and had bottles and balloons thrown at them containing liquid that analysis showed to be “low-level acid that caused irritants.”
Victoria Police on horses ward off protesters in Melbourne on September 11. Bilal El Jamal via Instagram
Police horses had been punched and horse manure was thrown at officers, Patton said, adding that of around 1,200 protesters, 39 had been arrested for various offenses including obstructing police, assault, arson and blocking roadways.
“We were forced to deploy some non-lethal munitions, which we did, and I’m still of the view that they were appropriately deployed and appropriate risk assessments were made,” he said, confirming that police used rubber bullets, flash distraction devices and pepper spray.
Two dozen police officers required medical treatment, a police spokesperson told CNN, adding that while police horses were also targeted, none sustained serious injuries.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said two people were taken to hospital but couldn’t say if they were involved in the protests.
Members of the crowd, many waving Palestinian flags and chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, demanded an end to violent conflict, CNN affiliate 9 News reported.
The organization behind the protests, Disrupt Land Forces, said in an open letter they “unequivocally oppose the glorification of death, destruction, and genocide being carried out with weapons developed on this continent and showcased at Land Forces.”
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its war on Hamas, according to the health ministry in the enclave. The Israeli government has vowed to wipe out Hamas following the group’s attacks on October 7, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza is being investigated by the International Court of Justice, in a case lodged by South Africa which accused Israel of genocide against Palestinian people. Israel has denied that characterization as “grossly distorted.”