In the city streets of Melbourne, glass bottles, food-grade acid and wheelie bin bonfires were thrown at police barricades in protest of a large weapons exhibition.
Protesters have swarmed outside the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre and are expected to continue until Friday.
It’s the city’s largest protest in 24 years, with 1500 protesters and 1000 police officers from Victoria and New South Wales.
Find out what’s going on in Melbourne in today’s headlines from The Briefing podcast:
The Briefing host Sacha Barbour-Gatt said: “What is this expo that has pro-Palestinian protesters so angry? It’s essentially a sales opportunity for weapons manufacturers.”
Protesters are calling the exhibition a “one-stop genocide shop”
“We are not deterred,” said rally organiser Caroline Da Silva.
“People are very angry about this expo. It’s particularly on the nose given there’s already very strong community sentiment about the genocide in Gaza.
More from LiSTNR Newsroom: Protesters Clash With Police As Anti-War Rally Disrupts Melbourne Defence Expo
“To be running a weapons expo and going, ‘hey, hey, come and make some billion dollar deals’ to buy more murder tech in the middle of that, it’s pretty off”.
Footage shows protesters being charged and tackled to the ground, and some reportedly throwing cans of beans, food-grade acid and horse manure at police on horses.
42 people have been charged so far, and 27 officers were injured during clashes.
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